One Last Time
by xXxCrimsonXAshesxXx
Summary: Strength is the key to triumph. Persistence is the road to victory. Acceptance is the tunnel to happiness. It all seems so straightforward, doesn't it? But when you hold the decision to make or break someone, how do you choose? Akira hadn't seen it coming; the choice that she would have to make which would result in one brother's peace and the other's downfall. SasukexOCxItachi
1. Prologue

_One Last Time - Prologue_

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for my own OC Akira and parts of the story that aren't in the Naruto.**

Enjoy the story~ this is an edited and re-uploaded version if IYLM

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**Description:**

**Strength is the key to triumph. Persistence is the road to victory. Acceptance is the tunnel to happiness. It all seems so straightforward, doesn't it? But when you hold the decision to make or break someone, how do you choose? Akira hadn't seen it coming; the choice that she would have to make which would result in one brother's peace and the other's downfall.**

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**_Dear Reader,_**

**_If you are reading this then we have all ready passed onto the next realm and are no longer present to guard our life's work. Throughout our lives we have made many wrong decisions and many of these have not been recorded. I will try to place onto paper as much of what happened as I can._**

**_My dear reader, I must confess, not everything detailed here, in this journal, is entirely honest or true. I myself cannot recall the exact specifics. I only hope that with everyone's help, I may impart Akira's knowledge and story to you. It is about time the world learned of the truth. It is about time that we all be remembered for the right we did, and not the wrong. _**

**_Akira's journey was perilous and extreme. At some points I found myself wanting to step in and help. But of course I cannot. Impartial to all, I must remain._**

**_Anything you read beyond this point has been written with utmost delicacy and with full intention to recount, not lie. I have no need to fib and no word on these pages contain anything that has not happened. Although much is exempt from my story, I hope it will provide you enough information. Now that Akira and I are gone, it is up to you to bequeath the world with the knowledge that it has so long deserved._**

**_With these being my words of parting, I bid you a safe and happy reading._**

**_Yours sincerely,  
Tenshin_**

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_The girl and her sensei stood opposite each other; one of them out of breath, the other barely breaking a sweat. This was the start of a tragic story, torn between right and wrong, love and belief, brother and brother._

_"You're going to have to try harder than this if you want to win against Orochimaru, Akira." Itachi scolded the petite girl as he, for the fifth time that hour, pushed her onto the ground with a kunai against her neck._

_She rolled her legs up and kicked him in the stomach but he just jumped back and laughed._

_"Now, now, don't let your anger get the best of you. Your strength is indeed heightened when you are angry but that also means that your movements are not co-ordinated."_

_His words were not thrown with a particularly malicious tone but nonetheless Akira's rashness got the better of her. She sprang at him with her hand knife._

_"Ita-Sensei, didn't I tell you not to underestimate me? I've been holding back the whole time."_ _The girl grinned at him as she pushed back after he deflected her knife with his kunai. He did a few hand signs and out poofed a few more Itachis._

_"Bunshin no Jutsu!" He said calmly. "You shouldn't disrespect your elders by underestimating them either, Aki-_**_chan_**_."_

_Akira dropped her knives into her pockets and did the tiger hand seal, trying her very hardest to contain her heavy breathing. _

_"Futon: Kaiten Shuriken!" She picked up her speed and used her chakra to cloak her appearance. Itachi smiled and activated his sharingan. She was mildly surprised. He didn't really need his kekkei genkai to know what she was doing. They both knew where this fight was going despite her playful jaunts. _

_As she slammed into the real him with her chakra blades he caught her knee. Akira was trying to hit his chin but he instead forced_**_her_**_chin up to look at him, trying to catch the girl in his genjutsu._

_"You know sensei - you being the great and mighty Uchiha who slaughtered his own entire clan - I thought you would have noticed that 'me' was a clone by now." Her voice called out to him from the treetops._

_Itachi looked back at Akira as she leaped down toward him, her breathtaking draconian wind chakra blade in hand, wielded in front of her body and ready to slice him._

_"Well, well, well. You're smart enough to bind your eyes. I never thought you'd be able to think using that much of your brain." Itachi taunted as he dodged her attack. Despite Akira's limited vision, she could still clearly sense where he was. Itachi might have been strong, but he could not hide his chakra signature from her._

_They both leapt up and clashed weapons, her sword against his two kunai._

_"The only thing is," he continued, "Are you able to fight without using your eyesight?"_

_She smirked inwardly and smiled. He still didn't know but she could still 'see' through the bindings that she had tied around her eyes._

_"You keep forgetting, Ita-sensei. I'm _**_special_**_, remember? Oh and by the way, I hope you don't mind but I copied you."_

_He looked at her confusedly for a second before his eyes widened in realization._

_"Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu!" She shouted as she threw her pin knife, which happened to be conveniently connected with a piece of thin wire, and followed it up with the flame attack._

_Itachi sighed. He was probably getting tired of this and wanted to end it. No matter. The small girl wanted to keep the fun going for as long as possible. Training with Itachi was the highlight of her day, sadly enough._

_"Sorry Akira," he dodged her attack but cursed when it started homing him, "It's lunch time and I know you're hungry." He stopped suddenly and turned around._

_"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu." He blew out a huge fireball and sent his attack colliding against hers, causing it to turn around and fly toward her. Inwardly Akira winced; his flames were obviously stronger than her. The Uchiha clan had taught their trademark move to their kids at a very, very young age._

_"Before you go, Ita-sensei, I want to show you something." _

_He quirked his eyebrows at her and gestured for Akira to continue, all the while nonchalantly throwing a few needles in her direction. Obviously, she dodged them. Akira focussed her attention on the incoming flaming ball._

_"I came up with a new jutsu and it just about owns your fire attacks!" Akira didn't dodge as the fire attack came closer to her. Instead, she linked her thumbs together and pulled her arms up in a protective stance. As the fireball came closer she threw her arms out in front of her, making sure to create a triangle shape with her thumbs and pointer fingers._

_"Suiton: Shunkan toketsu no jutsu!" Akira grabbed hold of the flames and they began to freeze. As the last flame froze out she dropped the huge ice shard on the ground._

_"So, Ita-sensei, how do you like my instant freeze technique?"_


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**I do not own anything except for my own OC Akira and parts of the story that aren't in the Naruto Manga and Anime.**

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It was a cloudy morning and the sun had just begun to seep through the grey sky. The light shone through the window and into the Hokage's office. The Hokage himself was seated behind a large desk. In front of him were stacks of paperwork. He sweat-dropped. There was evidently no way he could finish it all that day.

"Kami, I wish something would come in and excuse me from this horrible paperwork!" He sighed. _Like that's going to happen, _he thought.

"If only Minato were here, he'd be the one doing this." Sarutobi sighed again and picked up his pen, ready to start working again.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," he called out, not letting any relief slip into his voice. The door opened and two jounin entered. One of them was carrying a small girl in his arms and the other was holding what seemed to be her bag.

The Hokage stood up from his seat and walked over to the girl. There were evident scars on her arms and legs, some still freshly bleeding.

"Hokage-sama, we found this girl in the forest outside the village. She wore no headband and we found no evidence of her being a ninja. Her chakra signal is very small and I have quickly healed her." The jounin carrying the girl told him.

"Very well, set her down on the chair and you two may leave. Don't worry about her bag; I will deal with whatever is inside it."

This was not normal protocol. Usually injured civilians found were sent straight to the hospital. Civilians did not need to be checked by the Hokage.

Something about the girl's presence unnerved him. It felt like there was a constant war inside her, causing her chakra to flare at times and die out at others.

The two men bowed and set the girl and her bag down. They turned to leave but Sarutobi called out to them.

"And can you one of you go find Kakashi? I need to have a word with him."

The two ninja nodded and left. Sarutobi wandered back to his desk, waiting for the girl to open her eyes.

"Where am I? Who are you?"

Sarutobi nearly jumped from the sound of her voice. It was so… tired and worn out. It sounded so… defeated. The Hokage turned to look at the girl and was surprised at the softness of her features in comparison to her tone of voice.

"Child, you are in Konoha and I am the Hokage. What is your name?" Sarutobi asked the small girl gently.

"Are you alone?"

Again, she gave no answer. She merely stared off to the side, a blank look on her face.

"Are you hungry? I could summon a ninja to get you something to eat, if you would like."

She didn't reply to him. Sarutobi opened his mohth to ask her again when Kakashi appeared in the room. He was holding a scrambling yellow knucklehead. _Naruto... _Sarutobi groaned inside.

"Yo, old man, you called. And I found this guy trying to paint faces on all the fruit in the market."

The Hokage ignored Kakashi's jibe at his age. He frowned at the silver haired ninja's comment about the boy but dismissed it for later.

"This girl was found in the forest outside of here with injuries and scratches all over her. She hasn't answered my questions either."

The small girl scoffed and the two men turned to face her.

"What's the matte-" Kakashi was cut off by Naruto.

"Hey! What's your name? Do you like ramen? Let's go eat some after this!" Naruto yelled while he jumped out of Kakashi's grip and peered at the strange girl. "Wait... you smell weird. Are you sick or something?"

She blinked in response to him and looked away. This caused Naruto to go into a rampage about how she should look at him while he is speaking. Sarutobi sighed mentally, again.

"You know, you shouldn't disrespect me 'coz I'm gonna be the Hokage one day!" Naruto exclaimed, full of energy.

The small girl sighed and beckoned the Hokage closer with one finger. As he approached her, she reached into her bag and pulled out a folder. She handed it to him and he gasped in surprise.

"Hey isn't that a ninja file?" Kakashi questioned as he peered over the old man's shoulder.

"Naruto, why don't you take ..." Sarutobi peered into the file, "... Akira-chan here for a tour of our village?"

Akira scowled at the honorific after her name but reluctantly got up to follow the hyperactive boy. The Hokage noted how she easily accepted his suggestion, as if it had been an order.

Kakashi opened the file and both he and the Hokage looked through it.

Name: Akira Miyuki

Age: 12

Height: 161 cm (5"3)

Chakra Affinity: Wind, Fire and

Skill Level: Chuunin – Jounin

Clan: Miyuki and

Home Village: Village hidden in the Snow

DNA: #74538910436

Blood Type: AB-

Kakashi and the Hokage shared a glance. Blood type AB- and in the Miyuki clan? What was with all the information that had been crossed out?

Sarutobi stepped back from the file and scrunched his eyebrows. He saw Kakashi turn to face him. The Hokage's mind was whirring as he tried to remember the facts about the Miyuki clan.

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"So ... what happened? Why were you scratched up like that? Come to think of it, how come you're all healed now?" Naruto had been enthusiastic the whole tour and Akira hadn't said a single word except for 'ch'... if that could even count as a word.

Naruto was jumping up and down so fast he didn't notice that he was about to crash into someone. As the two people clashed, Akira had to hide a small smile at the yellow-head's clumsiness.

"Watch where you're going, baka."

Naruto jumped up and glared at the boy who had spoken. Akira watched quietly. Exchanges passed with hostile intentions had always been interesting to her. Naruto's demeanour toward this new stranger was hardly intimidating. It felt as if he almost wanted the other guy to fight him.

"Who are you calling a baka, Sasu-gay?" Naruto glared at the raven head harder. The other boy just scoffed and moved to the side, obviously wanting to walk off.

"Wait, Sasuke! I need to introduce you to someone! Oi!" Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm, his tone of voice changing immediately, and pulled him toward Akira.

"Akira, meet Sasu-gay. Sasuke, meet Akira." The girl raised an eyebrow at Naruto's choice of nicknames for the raven-head. Although she was not fond of using sexuality as an insult, it hardly seemed fitting as Naruto was the one to grab Sasuke's hand, and not vica-versa.

Sasuke wrenched his arm away from Naruto and hmpf'ed loudly before crossing his arms. Akira found it curious that he spoke little. She looked up and her eyes narrowed slightly. His eyes were just like hers; pained, sad and vengeful at the same time.

But that wasn't what took Akira's breath away. Sasuke resembled _him_ so much!

"U-U-Uchiha.." She whispered. He turned abruptly to look at her but the girl had already started running off. She jumped onto the roofs of the houses and headed to the Hokage's office. There was something she needed to tell him.

* * *

Akira leapt gracefully off the roof of the building at the foot of the Hokage tower. She looked at the receptionist warily. This town had only accepted her in the past fifteen minutes. She wasn't sure she felt comfortable waltzing in through the front door. The walls and their convenient ridges, however, looked very welcoming indeed.

"Sarutobi-sama?" She whispered softly, trying to push herself through the Hokage's open window as quickly as she could.

When she finally plopped herself through, Akira found herself sitting very ungracefully on her bottom, looking dazedly up at the withered face of the Hokage. She quickly stood and brushed the non-existent dirt off of her pants.

"I have to tell you something."

The Hokage tilted his head to the side, as if indicating for her to continue. Akira took a deep breath. She had not mentally prepared herself for the information she was about to part with. Before she could speak a word, however, an arm roughly wrapped itself around her shoulders and Akira found herself being hugged from the side by the silver haired ninja from earlier.

"Go ahead, Akira-san, tell us." The girl stiffened as she realised that it would be more than the Hokage she would be telling her precious information to. Akira glanced at the old man's face before resigning herself to the fact that Kakashi was going to find out sooner or later anyway. The jounin seemed to be around the Hokage a lot.

"I ..." Akira felt her throat tighten up as she realised just how much she could be giving away. She hadn't even known these people for more than half an hour. She could be making the biggest decision of her life. _No, _she thought,_ they healed me and let me roam free when they could have left me to die. I will not die at the hands of these ninja. At least not today._

The girl took a deep breath. "I want to tell the little information I have on Itachi. I know that he is labelled a missing ninja in your city so I believe it may be of use to you."

Kakashi and Sarutobi visibly stiffened at the mention of the Uchiha. Akira waited patiently, trying to draw out their full reaction. She could tell that their guards were up; they did not trust her. Of course, she had only just come to them and now she claimed to have information on one of their most dangerous missing-nin.

"Speak." The Hokage ordered her, not even worrying about Kakashi being there. Akira swallowed. His attitude toward her had done a one-eighty turn and the Hokage didn't even know what she was going to say.

"Well," Akira began slowly, "I have a little information on Itachi that I am willing to tell you. It may or may not concern his younger brother ... Sasuke."

Kakashi unconsciously clenched his fist. The girl noted that he was especially - or at least seemed to be - connected with the young Uchiha. Something, a mutual understanding, must have connected the two.

"Before I came here, I trained with the Akatsuki for a while," Akira paused as Kakashi growled. The Hokage nodded at her, telling her to continue. Akira sighed in relief mentally. At least they hadn't chained her up immediately.

"I was trained by most of their members but never once did I take part in their activities. Itachi trained me the most so naturally he and I became closer. I soon learned of how he massacred his whole clan and only spared Sasuke. I had often wondered why he seemed so eager to tell me what his past was like. The others, when they spoke to me, told me that they knew nothing. The Akatsuki group are ruthless. They mostly prefer not to have ties binding them down to what they deem to be useless emotions. Itachi seemed to have this desire, this strong urge, to tell me everything. He was in so much pain. Someone..." She paused again, thinking of 'Tobi' Uchiha.

"Itachi is getting weak," Akira said quietly, "his eyesight is diminishing and soon the time will come when Sasuke will inevitably set off on his path as the Avenger. I have thought of many possibly ways for you to try and stop him but they all are prevented by a block in the road."

Both men looked at Akira alarmingly. They were probably wondering how she knew so much and why she was telling them all this.

"Itachi spared Sasuke so that he, Sasuke, could one day avenge their clan for the wrongs that Itachi had himself committed." Akira looked the Hokage straight in the eye, "Hokage-sama, I am pretty sure you know what I am talking about. You seemed to have the ability to prevent this from happening but stood on the sidelines to watch as the Uchiha clan got demolished."

Akira was aware of the eggshells she was treading on. Firing shots at the Hokage only served to make him more suspicious of her. To her annoyance, the old man's face showed no sign of explicit remorse.

"Anyway, Itachi plans on spurring Sasuke on to make him stronger so that one day, the two of them will fight to the death and Sasuke will win. Itachi wishes that he gain the Mangekyo Sharingan." The girl paused to look at Kakashi's expression. He was looking out the window with a thoughtful look on his face, no longer staring at her with guarded eyes.

"Itachi cannot see the flaws in his plan but I can. Something will go wrong because someone," Madara Uchiha, she added silently in her head, "will interfere. You must be aware of this, but the block in your road to saving Sasuke, the person he is going to go to, is Orochimaru."

The Hokage flinched at the mention of the Sannin. Akira grimaced inside. Just speaking his name revolted her. The snake was a monster and she truly hoped she would never have to ever see him again. The girl stopped talking for a while, gathering up her thoughts. She had to find a way to tell them things that would protect Itachi but not make them suspect her more.

"I have yet another warning for you. You may choose to believe me and take the necessary precautions when the time comes or not but, The Fourth Great Shinobi War is approaching. I cannot tell you when but it will not be in your life-time, Hokage-sama."

The Hokage didn't look shocked or angry. In fact, he was smiling knowingly at her. His eyes were still guarded but Akira thought he appreciated her brutal honesty. Opposed to that though, Kakashi was openly enraged.

"How dare you say that? Are you insinuating that the Hokage-sama will die? You are nothing but a spy." Kakashi appeared in front of Akira's face, glaring down at her with his one visible eye. The girl smirked inside. Even while he was angry, the jounin still managed to appear lazy and nonchalant.

The Hokage put his hand up to prevent Kakashi from speaking any longer. He smiled at Akira. It wasn't a completely warm smile, but it showed her that he wasn't going to lock her up.

"Akira, you are a girl that has just come into our village and yet you are presenting us with a great deal of valuable knowledge, and for that I am grateful. My dear child, you are wise beyond your years. Do you plan on staying here? If you do, I must warn you that you will not be allowed to roam freely until I can be assured that you are no threat to Konoha."

Akira contemplated this deal and was surprised to find that she had already decided to stay. "Yes, Hokage-sama, I will indeed be staying in Konoha and will lend a hand in whatever you may wish of me. My times with the Akatsuki are over. I understand that you are wary of me and my intentions but I swear to you, by the honour of the ninja, that I will prove to be innocent of any sin harmful to Konoha."

"Very well, Akira. I suggest you start anew here. Why don't you go to the Academy tomorrow? I will enrol you and you will have a chance to start over, with new friends." Akira smiled at that. _Friends? New friends? Not like I have any old friends. _She thought wryly.

"Oh and Akira? Try not to let the other kids know too much of your abilities yet. I don't want life to be any harder for you here than it was wherever you were before. Also, if you could keep you kekkei genkai quiet, that would also be helpful."

Akira froze. The Hokage knew about her ability. She was about to question it but the Hokage had already turned away and Kakashi had gone. The girl bit her lip and decided not to push. She had been very generously offered a chance to start a life in Konoha and she certainly wasn't going to waste it by questioning the Hokage's wisdom.

* * *

Akira growled angrily as the timer on her bedside table rang loud and clear. Forming a small chakra ball in her hand, she blasted the damn thing to bits. It was only then that she noticed just how… _morning_ it was.

"Great. Now I have to actually get up and look presentable. So much for lying in bed and brooding all day." She grumbled unfairly, even though she wasn't the one on the ground, blasted to bits. Although Akira was quiet, it didn't mean that there were times when the childish side of her emerged. The girl simply wasn't a morning person. Simple.

"You know, you shouldn't blame the inanimate object for trying to do its job. You _were _the one to smash it, after all."

She shot up. _Who spoke?_ _Why is there someone in my room? Unless…_ Akira flung a silver knife at the intruder's head. The man yelped and, presumably, dodged.

"What the hell was that for? You really aren't a morning person are you? I guess I can't really speak."

Akira growled and sat up slowly. It didn't really matter how long she had been in this town. A bed was a bed and sleep was sleep. Mornings just weren't the right time to make conversation with Akira.

"Kakashi ..." she whispered dangerously, aware that she was being slightly unfair considering his and the Hokage's hospitality.

The silver headed jounin just chuckled and disappeared with a poof. Although he didn't forget to remind her about what the Hokage said yesterday before he left.

Akira finally finished slipping on her combat boots and looked in the mirror. She was, as usual, wearing black tight bike shorts with a long loose peasant top. She had her knives strapped onto her thigh but decided to leave her shuriken at home.

"The Hokage did tell me to keep my abilities a secret. I should probably not tell them that I am a jounin level ninja." The girl laughed darkly.

As she walked out the door of her apartment room, she reached to pick up her Draconian sword that was leaning on the door frame.

The walk to the academy was peaceful, although the people in the town were curious to see a new person walking around. Akira didn't mind the stares. As long as no one asked her anything, or even talked to her, she was just dandy with being observed.

When she arrived at the Academy, Akira was struck with a thought. _I'm late…_

The girl shrugged and walked toward the office. _I'm always late anyway_. There was a ninja walking down the corridor to her left. He was carrying something... or someone.

"Oh... Yo! Akira! I didn't know you went to the academy." Naruto called out from the clutched of the older man. He waved at Akira enthusiastically.

_Of course you wouldn't, Naruto, I only just got enrolled. _Akira sighed. The blond kept acting as if he knew her personally.

Hearing Naruto yell, the sensei turned around. The girl winced insider as she realized that she may have made a bad impression on the teacher already.

"Oh! You must be Akira, our new student. Come with me." He turned and began walking again. Akira followed him quietly. She wondered just how nice the people of Konoha were.

As the teacher dragged Naruto into the class room and began introducing Akira to everybody, she looked around the corridor and saw lots of pictures of famous ninja.

"Akira," The sensei poked his head through the classroom door, "you can come in now."

The girl walked into the classroom slowly, immediately regretting not wearing her cloak. The other children's eyes were all immediately on her. Of course, she did not mind them looking. Speaking to them was another thing altogether.

"So, introduce yourself." The teacher gestured for Akira to start talking. She sighed. She didn't even know his name yet.

"Miyuki Akira, aged 12," She said softly, staring straight ahead, which just happened to be at Sasuke. Inside, she was freezing up. His eyes were the same shape as his brother's, but they were not as kind. _His_ eyes were kinder, gentler, much more soothing and understanding than Sasuke's.

The girls started whispering as they noticed how she was staring at Sasuke, their 'beloved' apparently. Akira wished that Naruto would do something to draw the attention away from her.

"Akira, you can go sit next to Sasuke, seeing as that's the only free seat left." Akira shrugged and glided over to the seat, gracefully avoiding the foot a pink haired girl had put out on purpose. She wondered why there was a vacant seat near the Uchiha if all the girls seemed to adore him so much.

As Akira sat down, Sasuke turned to look at her. The girl ignored him and looked at the teacher, pretending to be interested. If she was to be honest, most of the stuff the nameless teacher was talking about was simple. She had already been through the cloning techniques with _him_ fifty times, or more.

"I can't believe her! The nerve! How dare she sit next to Sasuke?" A girl whispered behind Akira, obviously loud enough for her to hear.

"I know right? And look at how close she is to him, how rude." Another girl said. Sadly, this time everyone heard it loud and clear.

Multiple eyes turned to look at Akira, excluding the teacher. He was too busy droning on about clones and substitutions.

The girl behind Akira threw a fist at her head. She dodged it and continued to listen to the teacher. As expected, the force of the girl's punch was too much and she toppled over her desk, landing on Sasuke and Akira.

"Move." They both said. Sasuke looked at Akira. Akira stared straight at the teacher, willing her face not to move even a degree in his direction.

"E-e-eh? I'm so sorry Sasuke-kun! Forgive me, please!" The girl looked at Sasuke and pouted, obviously trying to look cute. Akira raised an eyebrow, still not looking at Sasuke but he just shook his head at the girl.

"Ino, please get off Sasuke and Akira. The minute I turn around, you're all over each other." The teacher finally noticed.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei." Ino turned bright red and scrambled back to her chair, not forgetting to send Akira a death glare first.

Akira mentally face-palmed. The Hokage was sending her to a place worse than an interrogation cell.

At recess, she didn't move from her seat and noticed out of the corner of her eye that Sasuke hadn't made a move to leave either. Neither had Ino.

"You know, _Akira_, if you want Sasuke so bad, you're gonna have to fight me!" Ino declared as she stood up on her chair, glaring at Akira. The girl merely continued to look to the front of the class, even though Iruka had left a while ago.

"Hn." Akira definitely wasn't an Uchiha but staying around Itachi so long, their signature hmph had rubbed off on her.

"Oh god, she's just like another Sasuke." A boy said from behind her. Akira didn't turn to look at him. She continued to face forward, her mind spinning, thinking. There was a lot in Konoha she still had to figure out.

"Oi, fight me." Akira turned, finally, to face Sasuke.

"You?" She questioned quietly, cocking her head slightly to the side.

"Yeah," he replied. The girl shrugged her shoulders and stood gracefully. He was obviously about to question where she was going but Akira beckoned for him to follow her.

Akira didn't mind the crowd that they were gaining. It was obvious that Sasuke had admirers.

"Here." She said quietly. Akira wasn't sure if he had heard her but he nodded.

The other kids on the playground stopped to watch as well.

Sasuke got into a fighting stance while Akira just stood there, hands behind her head with a lazy look on her face. She even discarded her blade and placed it onto the ground beside her.

"Oi, girl, are you gonna fight me? Or are you too chicken?" Sasuke taunted at her, smirking. She just shook her head and smiled.

"You first." Akira told him, signifying that she wanted him to make the first move.

He nodded and flew at her, ready to punch the girl senseless. Still, she just stood there. _Stuff what the Hokage says. If I'm fighting little Uchiha than I want to see what he's made of._

Akira focussed on surrounding her hands with chakra and waited for him to get closer. He was coming up with tremendous speed but it wouldn't affect her if he didn't know how to punch right.

"Here." Akira whispered as she caught his fist with two fingers. "Even Chakra Release!"

This wasn't a jutsu. It was just something the girl came up with when she had been fighting against Kisame. She had needed something to stop that stupid sword of his. Of course, by using this technique, she always sacrificed a little chakra to the Samehada.

Sasuke looked at Akira in shock before jumping back, away from her. _Smart_, she thought, _attack from a distance._

"_Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu_!" He yelled as he blew a huge ball of flame at her. The girl's eyes widened. This was indeed _his_ little brother. No normal 12 year old would have had enough chakra control to pull off something like that jutsu. Akira swiftly deflected the fireball, throwing it harmlessly to a patch of grass where it burned and then simmered out.

He didn't stop there. Sasuke threw strong punches and kicks at her but she simply deflected and dodged all of them.

"Stop." Akira commanded him softly and surprisingly, he came to an abrupt halt.

"I no longer want to fight you. You are weak and are no comparison, little Uchiha." Akira paused. She shouldn't have said that. Oh well.

He growled angrily at her and tried to kick her. Akira merely caught his foot. Waving with two fingers, she dropped his foot, picked up her sword and swiftly teleported from the school yard.

"I hope Iruka-sensei doesn't mind me skipping classes." Akira laughed drily as she flopped onto the bed of the apartment the Hokage had given to her.

* * *

Sasuke wasn't embarrassed or pissed at the fact that he just completely got his ass handed to him by Akira. He instead was determined to train and fight to get stronger so that he could eventually beat her.

"I can't believe it! That girl beat Sasuke!"Someone gasped and soon, there was an uproar of exclamations.

"Hn." Was all Sasuke said before walking back to the classroom as the bell rang.

Iruka questioned the class about where Akira had gone to, but no one said anything apart from Ino. Sasuke fell asleep halfway through one of Iruka's speeches on creating the perfect clone. He could hear Naruto causing a riot in the background, but he honestly didn't care. He never cared that much anymore.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for my own OC Akira (and others) and the parts of the story that aren't in the Naruto.**

* * *

_As the days went by, Sasuke kept his promise to himself and trained hard. He trained whenever he had time; before school, after school, before dinner, before bed and the same thing the next day. He got stronger and better at ninjutsu and taijutsu but the lack of sleep made him become thinner and sleepier. This didn't go unnoticed by his classmates and teacher and especially not by a certain student who happened to always get the seat beside him._

* * *

Akira sat at her desk, waiting for the rest of the class to arrive. So far, only Shikamaru and Iruka-sensei were in the classroom with her and it was peaceful. No-one said anything. Shikamaru was asleep, his head lazily drooping and saliva dripping from his open mouth. The girl laughed quietly to herself. _What a lazy kid._

Sensei was writing up something on the board. Once again, it was all about clones and shadow clones. Akira had learned to accept that everything she 'learned' in class, she had already been taught by members of the Akatsuki.

"Hey… Iruka-sensei… Has something happened to Uchiha-san lately? He seems off." Akira asked Iruka as he finally finished the notes on the board. He turned around to look at her with a tired smile.

"It's not really my business to tell you what's wrong with Sasuke but I guess after he lost your fight it just took a huge toll on him. Or maybe he's just training extra hard now that he's not at the top of the class anymore." At the last sentence, Iruka became serious and looked at Akira's face carefully, as if trying to figure out her reaction and motive.

The girl kept her expression void of clues and stared right back at him. She blinked before speaking up again.

"What do you mean sensei? Is there someone whose scores beat the Uchiha's?" She asked Iruka innocently, although she already had an idea of what the answer was.

"Yeah, it's yours." He replied simply, still staring at her with those questioning eyes.

_Shit_, she cursed inwardly. She had really been trying to keep a low profile and had stayed away from the higher scores but if she was still the highest scoring student then she had obviously over-estimated the class. _If the Hokage knows about this he's gonna scold me for sure. So much for keeping my talents hidden._

Iruka seemed to see her frustration and let out a laugh, which woke Shikamaru. "Don't worry; you're not beating him by far. If you want to keep your title as the top of the class I suggest you train. Or are you confident in your abilities already?" He sobered at his last sentence and went back to staring into Akira's eyes.

"What do you mean sensei?"

"You have been progressing at a very fast rate for someone who has just transferred into this class." Iruka stated simply.

Akira was about to make up an excuse when Naruto and Sasuke walked in, bickering like usual. She sighed and sank back into her seat, not noticing Shikamaru's accusing gaze on her.

"Stop following me."

"I'm not following you Sasu-gay, BELIEVE IT!"

Akira growled quietly and sank further into her seat. She had an irritating temptation to reach back and pull up her hood so that she wouldn't have to listen to so much of their stupid banter.

Akira had actually remembered her hood that day, unlike the first time she had stepped into this class room and so many days that followed it.

"Your bag is in my seat. Move it."

Akira looked up in surprise but her eyes immediately narrowed. "It's not in your seat. There's still plenty of room left so quit being a prissy and sit." She lashed back at Sasuke with equal venom in her voice.

It was the first time he had spoken to her since their clash in the school yard and she had no obligation to be nice to him. He had been giving her the cold shoulder, despite him being the one challenging her after knowing her for barely a day.

"Hn." He glared at her and sat down abruptly, nearly squishing her bag. Still, the girl made no move to retrieve it and left it there. It created a comfortable wall between the two of them.

As Iruka droned on and on about clones, again, her hood drooped lower and she fell asleep.

Akira woke to some shuffling and a loud slam of a bag hitting her desk. The girl's eyes flew open and narrowed when she saw her bag on the desk as well as her notebook, filled with notes from the day's lesson… That she hadn't written.

She turned accusingly to her left, ready to snap at Sasuke. Except, it wasn't Sasuke who was sitting there, it was Shikamaru.

"What do you want?" She said, wincing as her sentence came out meaner then she had originally intended. His eyes narrowed at her tone but he didn't comment on it.

"Well, I saw that you were asleep and decided to be nice and write your notes for you."

"Now why would you do that?" The girl mused. This boy was interesting. What did he want?

"What did you want in return?" She asked him, knowing for sure that this wasn't just his good intentions.

"I want to know your story."

Akira blinked at his bold comment but he continued before she could cut in.

"I know that you have secrets and several things up your sleeve. I don't want to know the future."

Akira blinked again at him, this time in amazement. Was he there when she had told the Hokage all that stuff?

"No, I wasn't eavesdropping I just happened to walk pass his office just at that time."

Akira's mouth turned into a grim line and she contemplated on what she should do. Should she tell him her story? Or should she just run and let him annoy her forever? There was nothing she could tell him that would harm her in any way. And besides, having a friend for once would be nice.

"I will tell you my story," Akira finally said, rolling her eyes as he grinned lazily at her, "But I can choose whether or not to leave some things out. You must not tell anyone else. After this, you may consider me the enemy but trust me, I will forever fight for Konoha unless something that concerns the life and death of millions comes up."

Shikamaru nodded and stood. He walked to the door and beckoned her to follow him.

"Where are we going? Iruka-sensei is gonna crack it if he finds out that I'm skipping again."

"We'll deal with that when it comes. I'm taking you to a place where we can talk and not be overheard." He led her into the forest and kept heading deeper inside it. Akira followed him carefully, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.

She wondered why she was trusting him so easily. Maybe it was the child in her, yearning to open up to someone. Akira sighed. She barely knew this guy.

"Hurry up! Troublesome woman." He called out and picked up his pace. The girl bit her lip. She was starting to feel unsure about this.

He stopped at a clearing and flopped down right in the centre. Akira hesitantly sat opposite him and dragged her hood off. Now that she was here, she might as well tell him. If he told anyone, she'd just have to kill him.

"Well, let's start from the beginning shall we?" The girl shuffled around until she was comfortable and began the story, the story of herself.

"Well, as far as I can remember is at age five so I'll start from there. When I was little, I lived in a big house. There were so many adults around and I was the only child so there was tons of fussing about things that concerned me. My dad and mom were from separate clans and so this meant that I had to work twice as hard. I was succeeding not one but two clans.

"My parents' marriage was supposed to be an arranged marriage but they fell in love at twenty-one and only then did they find out that they were supposed to get married. They didn't care, they were planning to anyway." She paused and looked at Shikamaru. He was listening intently.

"As the years went on I grew up pampered and spoiled rotten but never once did I experience the love of my parents. They were so in love with each other, they just left me to the care of the maids and nurses. I was about seven by the time I realised that wishing for a normal family was hopeless and stupid. I decided to leave, run away and find a different happiness."

Shikamaru's eyebrows rose in a questioning gaze and she continued.

"I ran away from the Leiko house on the night of my seventh birthday. I didn't know how long I ran for but I soon ended up in a town. It was old and constantly raining."

"Amegakure?" Shikamaru guessed. Akira nodded and continued her tale.

"I walked into a diner, all wet and soggy and immediately everyone looked up at me. I reckon that would have been a funny sight. Short little seven year old kid just standing there at the door, dripping wet from the rain. I was ushered inside and everyone was murmuring about me. I glared at the people talking and soon the chatter started up again, everybody soon forgetting about the wet girl.

"The shop owner led me to the back and gave me a towel. I explained my situation to him and he offered me a place to stay but I refused. Later that evening, as I thanked the shop owner and was about to leave, a hand came onto my shoulder and stopped me." Akira paused again and looked at Shikamaru. She was always wary about talking about herself, bit there was something about him that made her feel safe.

Shikamaru and Akira sat there until dusk. She had told him about how she had gotten accepted into the Akatsuki and how everybody trained her.

She left out the parts about Itachi. She also carefully removed anything that would be harmful to the Akatsuki from the story. Although they all thought her to be gone, memories wiped, Akira knew that they would come for her if she spilled their secrets.

He sat and listened to her patiently as she explained to him why she had chosen to stay with them and had not escaped. He had given her a guarded look at the mention of the older Uchiha but Akira remained indifferent.

As she bid him farewell, Shikamaru smiled lazily at her and waved.

"See you tomorrow, Akira-san." The girl smiled back at him.

"Bye, Shikamaru."

Akira didn't mind talking to Shikamaru. All she did was open up to him a little. It was nice and rather comforting. She would never admit it, but having a friend provided her with at least some comfort.

A part of her worried for her own sanity. She wondered how she could allow herself to open up to someone so easily; someone who, before that day, had never said a word to her.

* * *

The next morning, Akira woke up to some knocking at her door. She grumbled silently and picked up her knife just to be sure. Everyone just loved to wake her up at an ungodly hour.

The girl felt a familiar chakra behind the door but was too sleepy to discern whose it was. As she yanked the door open she growled.

"Kakashi I am not in the mood. I told you to stop waking me up so early." Akira said to the jounin.

"Uh… I'm not who you thought but uh… can I talk to you?"

Akira's eyes widened as she realized it wasn't Kakashi. "What are you doing here, little Uchiha?"

He growled at her name for him but quickly calmed.

"Actually, that's part of the reason why I'm here." He mumbled, looking down to his feet. It was obvious Sasuke wasn't used to speaking more than two words.

"Come in. Sorry about the mess, it's just I'm always too lazy to clean up." Akira moved aside to let him in.

He stood awkwardly in the hall way and she sighed. Leading him towards the lounge room in silence, she wondered what he wanted to talk about.

As the girl flopped onto the couch, he sat down next to her. She turned to look at him.

"What did you want?" She cocked her head to the side.

"Uh, well, I was wandering why you always call me little Uchiha. Emphasis on the _little._" He looked at her, waiting for an answer.

"Shit…" Akira muttered under her breath. She looked down at her hands and decided to tell him.

"I knew your brother." She didn't look up. She didn't want to see his expression.

"What?"

"I knew your brother." Akira repeated. He sighed and the girl was forced to look up at him.

"I heard what you said idiot, I just couldn't comprehend it. How did you know him?"

Akira scowled. She had told him she had known Itachi but she couldn't tell him how.

"You're going into bad territory." The girl cautioned him. Akira berated herself for letting him inside. She should have known he was going to ask about his brother.

"I said," Sasuke started to raise his voice, "_how did you know him?_"

Akira glared at him and stood up. She was about to tell him to get out of her house when a hand grabbed her arm.

Akira's temper rose a little. Outside, the clouds thundered and the sound of rain appeared. The little droplets on the window raced each other downward, reminding Akira much of herself and _him_.

"Sasuke…" She growled and the arm on her froze. "Let go of my ar-"

"Say it again."

Akira turned around to look at him in confusion. "Say what?"

He just repeated his last sentence.

"Sasuke! What do you want?" She yelled at him, her patience running thin.

"Say it one more time."

She growled louder at him, trying to rip her arm free without hurting either one of them. But it was no use. He had her arm in a vice grip.

"Say what, damnit!"

"Say my name again." He said, licking his lips, looking at her weirdly.

"Sasuke?" She said, a little more controlled now. He was acting weird. What was up with him? Before she could question him, he disappeared.

"What the hell?" Akira shook my head and went to grab her weapons. She was in dire need of a vigorous training session.

* * *

After their little "chat" Sasuke avoided Akira like she was the plague. Not that she minded, of course. She was too busy training. What she was training for, the girl had no idea. Maybe she just wanted to keep her strength up so if _he_ ever came for her, she would be able to prove her worth. Akira threw the knife at the tree she was currently abusing.

"Who am I kidding? Everyone back at the base thinks I have lost my memory. It's not like they're going to keep looking for me! After all, I was a disposable tool. one that they would like to have had but one that they did not particularly need." She sighed and sat down, leaving her knives embedded in the tree, now decorated with holes and other marks.

A shadow passed her and Akira looked up at the cloud. Envy coursed through the girl's veins. Clouds were so free…

"Jealous of a cloud? What's become of me?" She murmured, still stuck in her daze.

"That's pretty pathetic."

Akira whipped around, on guard.

"Ita- No, it's you."

He was also looking at the clouds when she whirled around but Sasuke's eyes flew down to meet hers as she spoke.

"Hn."

Akira winced when she realised how she had mistaken the young Uchiha for his prodigy brother. Again she cringed, realising the silent compliment and insult she had just given.

"What are you doing here?" Akira didn't mean for it to come out as an accusation but he had been avoiding her for the past few weeks and she was still sour about that.

The girl took this chance to actually look at him. He was her age and yet the last time she saw him, she had acted as if he were younger than her, a nuisance. Over the past weeks he had really grown and slightly matured, although his attitude didn't seem any better.

"I just came to apologize. Sorry about the other day, I just kind of lost it." He rubbed the back of his head. Was that a small tint of red she saw on the Uchiha's face?

"About that," Akira looked at him criticizing his facial response, "what was with all the 'say my name again' thing?"

He scowled at her and his blush deepened. "I didn't say _that_!" He denied loudly, glaring at the girl.

She just laughed slightly and patted the ground next to her, "Sit down, Sasuke, there's a lot I need to tell you and I don't think you want to stand up the whole time."

He fidgeted with his shirt a bit before actually deciding to sit down, "Hn." he stated as he flopped down beside her.

"What were you going to tell me?" He asked, looking at Akira curiously. There was a deep look in his eyes that sincerely reminded the girl of the _other_ Uchiha brother. She banished the thought from her head and smiled sheepishly at Sasuke.

"Actually, I know you have a lot of questions for me so I was wondering if you just wanted to get it over and done with and just ask me now. I don't actually know where to start so just shoot your questions. Although I might ask some questions to you in between." Akira warned him, in case he was like his older brother and hated to be interrupted.

"How did you know my brother?" _Wow, _she thought,_ cutting straight to the point._

"He was one of my teachers."

"How did you meet him?" He asked me. I paused, not entirely sure how to answer this one.

"Well, I think it's best to tell you what happened to me first." I looked at him, asking silently for permission. He just gave me a nod and I continued.

"You may not know this and I'm not very sure I should tell you but it's the only way for you to understand. I was born from the heirs of two clans, each with their own Kekkei Genkai. I was treated like royalty in the house and it annoyed me to no end. I was closer to the lady in the kitchen than my parents." I shook at the memory before continuing, avoiding Sasuke's peering gaze.

"It became too much for me, the pressure of which Kekkei Genkai I would attain pushed me to my limit. I took upon myself to flee my family on the night of my seventh birthday. It might seem like I was fleeing from my responsibilities but I was a seven year old with no parental love. This was something that was set on my mind for a long time coming."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow but did not say anything.

"As I ran that night, I had no destination in mind and I soon collapsed in a forest, depleted of energy. That was when your brother found me. He took me back to the Akatsuki hideout where the Leader there granted me the 'honour'," Akira exaggerated the word, "of being a member. I refused. Although I would have been the youngest person to ever join the Akatsuki, I had no wish to be part of the killings. Instead, I asked to be trained and he offered me the choice of training with ninjutsu, taijutsu or genjutsu. I couldn't pick so I boldly picked all of them.

"I was trained by most of the Akatsuki members but Itachi and I grew the closest. That was how I met your brother. The Leader had obvious plans to use my help whether or not I wished to give it. Sometimes I would be taken along to their missions and I would have been forced to heal them, or to save them. It was only because of your brother that I managed to survive and eventually escape."

"Did you love him?" he asked as soon as she finished, not skipping a beat.

"What?"

"I asked you if you love him. You speak of him so fondly."

Akira smiled wryly at Sasuke and wondered how he was so perceptive. _Uchiha genes…_

"Listen, I think that's enough for today but I will answer your question, just not now. I'll see you in class tomorrow. We have the Genin Examination tomorrow with Iruka-sensei so let's both do our best!" The girl stuck out her hand to Sasuke and he grasped it.

Akira smirked.

Without any warning, she brought her fist up to his face. The girl's smirk only grew when he caught it and lifted his right leg, trying to hit her in the stomach. Neither of them had let go of the other's hand.

"See you tomorrow, little Uchiha." Akira said as she teleported back to her room, a jutsu she had usefully dried out of Tobi.

That night, Akira had peaceful dreams; for once they weren't plagued with the Akatsuki or _him_.

* * *

The next morning, she woke up later than usual and even though there was still a decent amount of time before she had to be at school for the exam, Akira panicked. It was only when she was looking in the mirror after she had finished dressing, did the girl realize that it would be a _genin_ test and she was a _jounin_.

"Why am I worried?" Akira shook her head in amazement and dropped the thought of skipping breakfast from her head. The girl sat down in front of the table and poured herself some cereal whilst contemplating who she was going to annoy that day. She wasn't usually very annoying, or very social. But something about that day just made her feel a little more accepting and outgoing.

"Ah shit I promised Sasuke I would meet him today, didn't I?" Akira slapped a hand to her forehead.

The girl shrugged her shoulders indifferently, _oh well._ _He's not gonna come after me with a giant pitchfork, s_he thought.

She cleaned up quickly and decided to take her sword with her that day.

"I might as well bring something to scare the sensei with." Akira said darkly, before throwing a vibrant smile upon her face.

She jumped through the neighbourhood, not even caring that she was late. It was a beautiful day and there was nothing to worry about. Then again, she wondered, was the weather ever bad in Konoha?

"I don't think I've recalled a single day it's rained here in Konoha. Hmm… Strange difference compared to Amegakure…"

When Akira arrived at the academy, she decided against walking into the classroom the normal way; through the corridors. Instead she climbed up the wall to her class room. The girl lifted open the windows, noticing everyone lining up for something, and slipped in quietly.

"Okay, good job, Sakura. Sasuke, you're next." Iruka-sensei said as Sakura emerged from her transformation.

Sakura looked to Sasuke, as if asking for praise but Sasuke merely ignored her and walked to the front of the room.

"That was rude, little Uchiha." She commented to herself quietly, so that no one knew she was there yet. Akira's chakra was already masked so they couldn't sense it.

Sasuke did his transformation and returned to his seat.

"Okay, next is Akira." Before Iruka-sensei could say anything else, and before Akira could reveal herself, Sakura opened her big mouth.

"She's not here yet, sensei. Akira probably slept in, again."

A few snickers rang though the room. Akira took that as her cue.

"Who said I wasn't here yet, Sakura?" The girl smirked at Sakura's shocked face as she stepped out of the shadows, right in front of her.

"So, sensei, I just have to transform into something right?" Akira smiled and the sensei nodded. Normally Akira didn't care much for sucking up or for being disrespectful, but she felt especially cheeky that day.

Akira laughed as she transformed into Kakashi, "I'm Kakashi, all big and mighty. I can't stand not knowing everything. Lalala~"

She held the jutsu until Iruka sensei nodded before dropping it and bending over laughing. Shikamaru muttered something rather rude and Akira frowned. She poked her tongue out at him, rather maturely.

Everyone did the transformation pretty well but Naruto… He transformed into a naked girl, covered only by smoke. They looked like clouds to Akira.

Iruka-sensei cleaned his nose-bleed before calling each one of them up to do the clone jutsu. Sasuke did it _perfectly,_ as expected and before she knew it, Akira was snapped out of her reverie.

"It's your turn Akira, and don't try anything funny."

She looked at Iruka for a second, _what could I possibly do with a transformation Jutsu that would be **funny**?_ She thought.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The girl shouted as she traced her hands into the correct hand seal. Five solid shadow clones of herself popped out and Akira glanced at Iruka. He was trying to mask his surprise. His reaction made her wonder if Hokage-sama even told him about her **abilities**.

Once again, just like the transformation jutsu, everyone went pretty well except for Naruto.

Iruka-sensei dismissed them all with a disappointed facial expression. He was clearly upset about Naruto's performance and that reaction got Akira's blood boiling. How dare he be mad at Naruto! It wasn't his fault he was a Jinchuuriki! She unintentionally growled at him and everyone left the classroom, not wanting to face the wrath of the girl.

Only Naruto, Sasuke and Akira remained. The girl stood and walked over to Naruto. Sasuke raised his eyebrows at her but didn't say anything.

"Hey, Naruto, don't be upset, I'm sure there's another way for you to pass!"

He looked up at her, smiling, but his eyes fell when he saw the Leaf headband around her neck. Akira laid a hand on his head and ruffled his hair before smiling at him again.

"I'll support you, every step of the way, because I kind of understand how you feel." She whispered to him. He looked at her again and she smiled brightly at him.

"Believe it! Trust yourself that you can do it and you **will **succeed, Naruto. I know you can." With that, Akira walked out of the classroom. The girl looked up as she bumped into someone.

"Shikamaru? What are you doing here?" She blinked up at the boy.

"Talk."

Akira looked around quickly before sighing. Shikamaru obviously had something he needed to figure out. It must have been bugging him for him to scratch up the energy to ask her.

They both walked over to the clearing where they had spoken the other day. Wanting to ask the boy her own questions, Akira spun around only to see him lounging lazily on the forest floor.

"Why do you want to know so much? You realise I cannot tell you everything."

"Mm." He replied, with a small inclination of his head. Akira frowned.

"You need to let it out. Something's been bugging you for days and it's making me feel uncomfortable in class."

Akira cringed inside. So he was only doing this for his own gain. "What do you mean? Nothing's been wrong."

"Every time you see Sasuke, you flinch. You can't even look the boy in the eyes. You fall asleep and jolt awake every time Iruka-sensei says 'jutsu' and you can barely walk around without banging into people, or things."

The girl bowed her head. Shikamaru was observant.

"It hurts. It hurts me physically, every time I see him. They look _so_ much alike. I can't bear the thought... I can't imagine what I would do." Despite her vague answers, Akira could tell that the boy understood what she was talking about.

"You've been through so much for someone your age. I mean, we're only twelve. You have barely scratched the surface of your potential. Don't let your past haunt you, Akira."

* * *

Akira sighed loudly as she thought over Shikamaru's words. The boy was so wise and thoughtful and observant that it unnerved her.

She had thought to ask the Hokage about him and his family but decided not to. Her last meeting with the Hokage had resulted in him scolding her for revealing too much of her potential in class and Kakashi trying to pry more information out of her. As relaxed and laid back as the jounin seemed, he was evidently very wary of her.

A shadow passed over her head and Akira looked up. Her hands clutched the seat of the bench tighter.

"What did you mean when you said you kind of understand how he feels?" Sasuke asked her, looking down at the girl.

"Well, he has been alone all his life and I kind of have too, although differently to him," she paused and looked at him straight in the eye, "and you. I didn't have my family massacred and I didn't have rocks thrown at me either. I had people around but they never spoke to me, never supported me. They acted friendly when someone important was nearby but as soon as they were left alone with me, I would start getting yelled at and scolded for things I didn't do.

"Servants would always blame me for their misery, saying I was the cause of the suffering and soon I became so much alone. I was about to give up before I decided to run away. When I collapsed in the forest I really did think that I had no hope, at least before…" Akira trailed off, turning away from him.

She felt a hand on her shoulder but the girl still didn't look back.

"Before you met my brother, right?"

She nodded at him and he smiled painfully at her. It wasn't a smirk, it was a real genuine smile. Even if all it showed was pain and suffering, it was a smile.

He grabbed her arm and started leading her somewhere. She didn't protest as she knew he wanted to show her something.

"Welcome to the Uchiha compound." He said when they arrived. Akira realized he was still holding her arm and she pulled away. She looked in awe at the place where Sasuke's clan got murdered.

"It looks so sad, doesn't it?" She asked Sasuke, peering at him cautiously.

"Yeah, yeah it does." He replied. Akira wandered around, looking at all the houses before she stopped in front of one that didn't look so old and dusty.

"Is this where you live?" The girl questioned him rhetorically.

"Hn," was all he said before walking inside, not even bothering to remove his shoes. Akira was unsure whether she should follow suit or take off her shoes politely.

"Just come inside!" He said from inside the house. Akira sighed and stepped inside the house. As soon as her foot was in, she was hit with a blast of memories and feelings and emotions.

Akira followed Sasuke's voice and saw him standing in what must be the living room. He was holding some picture frames. She walked over to him and he handed her the pictures. They were of two different people.

"Akira, meet my parents, Fugaku Uchiha and Mikoto Uchiha." He said quietly.

Akira nearly dropped the two picture frames.

When her heart race had calmed, she placed them back on the shelf where she thought they had originally stood.

Sasuke shuffled around a bit and she turned back to him. His hair was covering his eyes and his hands were clenched into fists. It was pretty obvious he was hurting. Akira sighed.

The wrapped her arms around his neck in an embrace. She had to lean on her tip toes to reach his ears. She whispered words of comfort to him and warmed her hands with a friendly chakra. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around her waist and leant his head on her shoulder.

They just stood there, hugging. His breathing returned to normal pace and soon slowed. Akira felt him falling asleep on her so she sat down slowly, not letting go of him.

He closed his eyes and fell asleep. Akira chuckled quietly before laying him down, his head on her lap. The girl began to feel drowsy herself, so she placed a chakra blanket over the both of them, to keep them warm before also closing her eyes. Akira fell into a dreamless sleep.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3  
**

**Thank you so much to LittleBlueRobyn and Lucy for reviewing! Your reviews are much appreciated!  
****Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for my own OC Akira (and others) and the parts of the story that aren't in the Naruto.****  
**

* * *

Akira tossed and turned in her bed. The covers and blankets were suffocating the girl but if she removed them, she would feel cold. Akira didn't need to look at the clock beside her bed to know that it was around 1 am.

"Why the hell can't I get to sleep?" There was an unsettling silence as the girl felt the fleeting sign of chakra. It was cold and unwelcoming but it felt so… familiar.

Akira sat up and rubbed her eyes. Reaching for the knife that was under her pillow, she sleepily fell into defensive stance.

"Akira…"

The girl whipped around, turning to look behind her. By this time, Akira was wide awake and no longer blinking the nightmares from her eyes.

"Come back…"

Akira jumped up and started moving around the room, thoroughly freaked out.

"Show yourself! Are you so cowardly as to try to scare a girl like this? Why are you haunting me?" Akira said, her voice unwavering but her mind in slight turmoil.

"Why did you forget?"

Once again the smooth voice whispered, this time it felt much closer to her.

Akira felt a spike of chakra and turned toward her window, which was open. _That was odd_, she thought. Akira never opened her window at night.

"Do you really think they trust you?"

Akira slammed her kunai behind her as she heard the voice right next to her ear.

"Akira… Akira! AKIRA! **AKIRA!** _Akira, AKIRA, __**AKIRA!**_"

Voices screamed her name. They were all hauntingly familiar and Akira screamed too.

She let out a huge shriek but to her dismay, no one heard her.

"Where is everybody? Sasuke? Naruto? Kakashi? _Itachi?"_

Akira sat up abruptly in her bed, trying to calm her thoughts and slow her heartbeat.

"What was that? It was a dream? I can't believe it."

The _Akatsuki_! Akira was dreaming of the _Akatsuki! _Those voices she had heard weren't from ghosts, they were of everyone's; Konan's, Pein's, Hidan's, Kakuzu's, Sasori's, Deidara's, Kisame's, Tobi's, andItachi's…

"No! Why now? I've been fine up until now but why me? So many dreams so many!" Akira flopped back onto her pillow and turned to her side, silent tears dripped down her face, leaving a silver trail.

Akira cried quietly to herself, slowly falling back to sleep, haunted still by the voices of her friends and sensei.

The next morning Akira could barely wake up. Everywhere she turned, the girl could hear whispers from her dream. Akira could see the disappointment in everybody's face.

When she looked into the mirror, Akira wasn't the least bit surprised to see her hair sticking up in all directions and gigantic bags under her eyes.

She heard a sound at her window but the girl didn't bother to turn her head.

"Ugh, so tired…" Akira moaned sleepily. "Can't they meet their team and sensei tomorrow?"

She heard a chuckle from the window and was curious enough to find the energy to turn her head.

"What do you want, little Uchiha?" Akira asked tiredly. She wasn't in the mood for his stupid antics.

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to get some ramen for breakfast... but it seems like you're a bit too much on the tired side." He said with a grin, managing to raise his voice a few decibels, just enough to give the girl a pounding head ache.

"Ugh go away; I am too tired for this." Akira threw whatever was in front of her mirror at him, which just happened to be her headband. It landed a few feet away from her target and she groaned, annoyed and tired.

"Well if you're not going to get dressed I'll have to do it myself." There was a warning tone in his voice but Akira was too drowsy to comprehend what the meaning of his sentence was.

"Okay, if you can get a clean shirt from over there." Akira lifted an aching finger over to point at, where Akira assumed was, her closet.

"Uh-h-h," Sasuke stuttered a bit, obviously not expecting this response, "Okay…"

If Akira had turned around she would have seen the red tint on his face clearly. But Akira could see just enough with the mirror in front of her.

"Hey Sasuke…" Akira drawled drowsily.

"Y-y-yes?"

Akira blinked, she had made him stutter, when she was _half asleep_.

"Are you blushing? Turn around!" Akira slurred at him, before slamming her head on the dresser in front of the mirror.

Sasuke walked to the girl, shirt in hand, and poked the girl in the shoulder. He shoved and pushed and pulled but Akira didn't wake up.

"Five more minutes, damned Uchiha…" Akira groaned, unsure of whether she was talking to Sasuke or _him._

Akira felt a sigh and movement around her shoulders and head before something slipped over her.

"I've put on your shirt. Now can you _please_ wake up and put on your shorts, Akira." He whispered in her ear. It was pretty obvious he was annoyed at the girl but amused at the same time.

"Mmmm… whatever… Go away Sasuke; wait outside the window or something…" Akira groaned as she stood up and started fixing her hair, not even noticing Sasuke raising his eyebrows.

Sasuke stood up to leave and she went to find a suitable pair of shorts for the day.

When the girl finally finished getting ready, they were already ten minutes late. Akira wouldn't be surprised if Sasuke ditched her.

Akira wasn't expecting him there so when she zombied to the window and was about to jump out, she screamed bloody murder as he grabbed her hand.

"Come on, let's go. We're late enough Akira." He grabbed her hand tighter and they took off running. Actually, he was the only one running; Akira was sort of dangling in the air behind him.

"You're late!" Naruto and Sakura screamed into their faces when they arrived at the classroom. Some teams had left already and so there were only a few kids left.

"Hn." Sasuke scoffed before turning his head away from the girl. He still hadn't let go of Akira's hand yet and Sakura zeroed in on that fact.

"A…Kir….A!"

Akira sleepily turned to look at her, unaware of the deathly aura surrounding her.

"Let go of Sasuke-kun's hand, baka. You're not allowed to hold his hand!"

Akira didn't hear her words as she had already dozed off, slightly drooping her head on Sasuke's shoulder._ He reminds me of Itachi so much…_

"Oi, teme, get off me." Sasuke tugged his hand away and attempted to push the girl off. Akira snuggled in closer to him, not even realising it.

By this time, all the other students had been _collected_ by their appropriate sensei. The only ones left were them.

* * *

"Get your hands off Sasuke-kun, baka-kira!" Sakura started pulling the girl from Sasuke. Akira assumed there was a wild glare on her face.

"Eh… Sensei's late…" Naruto frowned. "I know!" He was completely oblivious to what was happening and had instead started setting up a chalk on top of the classroom door.

Akira jumped and opened her eyes immediately, pushing both Sakura and Sasuke to the ground. The girl had heard it again, the voices that were whispering her name. Akira pulled into a defensive stance and checked the classroom.

"Naruto, the sensei will never fall for that stupid trick!" Apparently Sakura had already gotten over the fact that Akira had pushed her to the ground and was now focusing on reprimanding Naruto for his antics.

"Hn." Sasuke stated, merely watching with bored eyes. Naruto started complaining but Akira soon fell back asleep. There was no-one suspicious in the classroom.

The door started to open and Akira lifted one tired eye lid. What she saw made the girl jolt awake in both shock and amusement.

"Kakashi? _**You're **_teaching us?" She sunk to the nearest table and started fake sobbing.

"My first impression of you guys is… You're all a bunch of idiots."

Akira sat straighter and opened both eyes to glare at the silver head.

"How dare you! I am _not_ an idiot and besides, this isn't the first time you've met me." Akira smiled smugly at him.

"You don't count Akira, you're just plain weird, and suspicious."

Akira felt a movement and found herself being lifted up and carried somewhere. "Where are we going, Uchiha?" Akira poked him in the chest lazily. He only scoffed and picked up his pace.

"Mmmm, whatever don't answer me, then." Akira fell asleep once more, but not before hearing Tobi's loud obnoxious voice yell her name out.

Akira opened her eyes slightly when sunlight filtered into her eyes. They were on the roof?

"Put me down, Uchiha." Akira mumbled sleepily. As soon as her butt touched ground, she curled up and fell back asleep.

She heard someone groan but payed no attention to it. The girl was too busy hearing voices scream her name. She curled tighter and frowned.

"Hey, are you all right?" Naruto asked the girl, his voice surprisingly soothing. Akira opened her eyes and smiled tightly at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just tired." She smiled at him again before adding, "Believe it…" The girl could hear his chuckle.

Kakashi frowned at the girl before motioning for her to sit up. Akira did so.

"So, we're gonna begin by introducing ourselves." He motioned to Naruto. The blonde just sat there, staring stupidly at him.

Kakashi face-palmed.

"A bunch of idiots…" he muttered. Sakura looked at him carefully before speaking up.

"Why don't you go first, sensei, we don't know much about you."

_You don't know anything about him, moron_, Akira thought. What a stupid statement.

"Hmm, well, my name's Hatake Kakashi, I have many dislikes and likes. I don't have any hobbies. My goal in life is… nothing you should worry about." He answered with his signature smile.

Oh how Akira had come to hate that closed eye smile. It was so _fake_. Not like she could complain, **fake.**

Everybody sweat-dropped; all they learnt was his name.

Sakura stated everybody's thoughts but Kakashi merely shrugged before stating that it was Naruto's turn.

"The name's Uzumaki Naruto, I like ramen, and Akira."

Akira smiled tiredly at him, still not rid of the Akatsuki's accusing voices from her head.

"I dislike Sasuke, my hobby is… EATING RAMEN! And my goal is to become Hokage so people will respect me, BELIEVE IT!" When Naruto stated his reason, Kakashi glanced at Naruto with an odd look on his face.

Next up was Sakura. She glared at Naruto and Akira and stared at Sasuke a bit before starting.

"Well, my name is Haruno Sakura."

Akira mumbled something in her sleep, accidently cutting her off.

"My likes are…" Sakura turned to stare at Sasuke. Akira sniggered, even in her sleepy state Akira could hear what she was saying, and the meaning behind her words.

"My hobbies are…" the pinkette stared at Sasuke some more. Akira thought it was time she spoke up.

"My name is Haruno Sakura, my likes are Sasuke, my hobbies are stalking Sasuke, my goal is to rape Sasuke and my dislikes are Naruto and Akira." Akira stated for her, annoyed with the girl's rambling. The stupid voices were tipping the girl over the edge and Akira was kind of grumpy.

"My name is Miyuki Akira, I like things that I like and dislike things I dislike. My hobbies are not normal and my goal in life is unimportant to you guys. And girl."

Everybody sweat-dropped at the girl but Akira shrugged and closed her eyes, trying to get rid of the images in her head.

_Be nice, Akira, these are your future team-mates._ Akira could just picture _him_ saying that.

The girl didn't really catch what Sasuke was saying but her eyes shot open at his last few words.

"And my goal is… to kill a certain someone."

Sakura and Naruto shivered whilst Kakashi looked at Sasuke weirdly. Akira just glared at the young Uchiha, knowing exactly who he was talking about.

"Kakashi, I'm leaving." Akira growled at the sensei before disappearing.

She reappeared in her room and picked up a picture frame from under her bed. It was in a small wooden box.

Akira dragged her finger over one of the people in the picture. He was hugging her from behind, his chin on her head. They were both covered in scratches, the girl more than him, but they were both smiling.

"Itachi…" Akira whispered as tears fell silently down her cheek. She felt a breeze and looked to her window. It was open and the wind blew coldly against her tear stained cheeks.

Akira didn't know, but there was someone outside, and he whispered her name quietly before disappearing.

"Akira…"

The girl broke down onto the ground crying and cursed fate. She vowed then and there that she would do whatever it took to become stronger and to get back to Itachi and help him.

"Ita-sensei, this is for you. Always and forever, remember?"

* * *

"Ugh... I feel weird... My head's spinning..." Akira sat up in her bed and groaned. It was so not a good morning.

"Why does it feel like I'm forgetting something... Was there something important that Kakashi said yesterday during that meeting thing? I can't remember... I was half asleep." Akira shrugged her shoulders and stepped out of the warm covers.

Making her way into the bathroom the girl nearly screamed when she saw her reflection in the mirror. Akira had bits and pieces of things stuck in her hair, her shirt was inside out and she had a pair of panties on her head.

"Bleh." She commented in disgust. That was nasty.

After cleaning up and looking... Presentable, the girl sat down in the kitchen and ate some toast.

"Nom." She chewed slowly, reading a random book she had found under her pillow.

"Hm, that's interesting, a girl getting eaten by a wolf but is then regurgitated." Akira paled a bit as the food in her stomach rolled around at the thought of regurgitation.

She finished reading the story before looking up at the clock on the wall. Akira sweat-dropped; it was already fifteen minutes to one and she hadn't even started heading toward... she couldn't remember where everyone was supposed to meet.

Akira scratched her head awkwardly but just figured she'd walk around aimlessly until she found wherever her team was.

When Akira finally found the training area, it was well past one o'clock and Sakura, Naruto and even Sasuke were already there.

"You're late."

Akira had that statement shoved in her face as the pink haired fan girl glared at her, an irk mark appearing on her abnormally large forehead. Akira just looked past her indifferently.

"Listen, I don't actually know why you don't like me that much, but it's not very attractive reprimanding every step I take." Akira paused thoughtfully, "Especially when I don't give a crap..." She trailed off when she noticed Naruto lying on the ground, nearly dead.

"Oi, Naru-kun." Akira nudged him gently with her left foot. "Wake up Naru-kun."

He still didn't budge and the girl was starting to get just the teeniest bit worried. Sasuke looked at the girl weirdly before speaking up.

"He's not going to wake up. He's been like that for a while. Something about no ramen." He sniffed indifferently. Sakura looked at him with shining eyes. _Is this the first time she heard him say more than two words?_ _Oh yeah, it is._

"Come to think of it," Sasuke continued, now staring at Akira, "weren't you dead yesterday?"

"Ch, you made Sasuke worry about you. What were you doing? Eating fatty chips in your house and crying over the fact that you can never be as pretty or rich like me? Or the fact that I deserve Sasuke way more than you? I bet even your mom hates you."

Akira frowned at her. First Sakura accused her of eating chips. Akira hadn't touched a potato chip since she was five. Then, Sakura compared her appearance and social statues? Who did this girl think she was? And _then,_ oh Kami, _then_ Sakura, _dared to say that her mom, Akira's __**mom, **__hated her._

With every thought Akira grew madder.

"Before I yell at you, Sakura, for being an inconsiderate little brat, I will first apologise to Sasuke for worrying him. Sorry."

Akira paused and took a deep breath, turning to fully face Sasuke.

"Hn," he stated, "You're stupid." Akira blinked. She had just thanked him and he called her stupid? She shoved her anger at the boy away. There were more pressing matters to deal with.

"Sakura," Akira turned back to face her, "I may not watch my diet as carefully as you, I may not care about my hair as much as you and I might not have parents who love me as much as you," the girl's voice broke, "but mark my words, I am as much of a ninja as you are."

Sasuke clenched his fist at the girl's words.

Sakura was about to say something when Kakashi appeared.

"Oi! Sensei! You're late, BELIEVE IT!" Naruto's stomach ache seemed to have disappeared.

"Ahaha…" Kakashi chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head, "I'm sorry, I was walking through this road and a black cat crossed my path so-"

"That's bullshit sensei, BELIEVE IT!" Naruto fumed. Sakura temporarily forgot about the girl and joined in on scolding Kakashi.

Akira turned to look at Sasuke; he was already staring at her. Self-consciously, Akira checked to see if she had anything on her face.

"Baka, stop worrying so much, your face is clean."

Akira froze, _how'd he know?_

Sasuke just laughed and patted her head before walking to the rest of their team.

"So your objective is to get these three bells off me by noon - by that I mean a bell each - which leaves you exactly 2 hours."

Sakura complained about there not being enough bells for everybody but Kakashi just smiled.

Naruto laughed obnoxiously before charging at Kakashi with a kunai. The jounin just dodged him skilfully before slamming the blonde onto the ground.

"I didn't say start yet, Naruto."

Akira laughed at him; he was acting so oblivious but it was kind of obvious he knew how powerful Naruto could be. Or maybe Kakashi was just tired.

"Start," he said and the three of them dispersed, heading to the safety of the trees. Akira turned to look back at Naruto. He was still in the clearing with the silver-head and he was headed for a minute of pain.

Akira turned back to face the tree she had been leaning on. The girl had to figure out what this test was really about.

"That's it!" She cried before jumping back to the clearing to find Naruto. When she found him, he was muttering about Kakashi's book, something perverted, and rubbing his backside woefully.

"Hey, Naruto, do you want to work with the girl?" He looked at the girl for a second before grinning widely. Akira thought he was going to say yes before he spoke.

"Sorry, Kira-chan, but I want to be the Hokage one day which means that I have to be able to do this myself!"

Akira sighed as he disappeared. She really didn't want to do this but the girl had to go ask Sakura. When Akira found her, she was spying on Sasuke from behind a tree.

"Hey, Sakura," Akira started out carefully. Before she could ask her, though, Sakura cut the girl off.

"Listen, _Akira_, I don't know what you have with Sasuke, but he's mine, do you hear me?"

Akira cringed at her glare but swallowed the lump in her throat. "Sakura, it would be easier to get the bells if we work together, Kakashi **is** a jounin, you know."

Saukra just sneered at the girl. "Like I would work with a tramp like you! I'll only work with Sasuke."

Akira sighed before walking away. The only person left to ask was Sasuke. She had already wasted half an hour and time was precious.

"Sasuke? God damnit where the-" Akira cut off as she nearly tripped over his head. "How the hell did you get down _there_, little Uchiha?" She chuckled at him. His body was buried in the ground and the only thing showing was his head.

"Quit laughing and help me up, baka."

Akira complied but couldn't stop herself from laughing. "So, Sasuke, do you want to work together?"

He looked at the girl weirdly. "Look, Akira, it may seem like I am willing to work with you but I'm not. I am an avenger so I can't be in need of the help of others, especially weak ones." He flashed away, leaving the girl standing there fuming.

"How dare he? I am _not _weak, damnit. _WHY THE HELL WON'T ANYBODY WORK TOGETHER WITH ME?_"


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for my own OC Akira (and others) and the parts of the story that aren't in the Naruto.  
**

**Yes, I totally agree with you, LittleBlueRobyn, Sakura's a nice person. I really liked her character in Shippuuden~ But right now, it only fits if she acts like a bitch. I promise to make her nicer soon!**

* * *

The forest was silent. Akira breathed hard, a little more than annoyed that none of the others had agreed to work together. She growled in frustration.

Akira heard a chuckle and turned to see Kakashi standing behind the girl. He was holding a little book in his hand. She could just make out the title and cringed, she was right, it was perverted.

"Don't laugh sensei; it looks like I have to fight you alone."

He raised an eyebrow at the girl, mocking her.

Akira didn't say anything else; instead she pulled out a kunai and charged at him, sending small amounts of chakra to her feet so she could run faster.

Kakashi slipped his book in his pocket and slid up his head band. So she was important enough to taste his Sharingan...

He and Akira charged at each other before the girl felt a force from behind her. Akira swerved to the right just in time to dodge his attack. She countered with a fire jutsu before hiding in its shadow. When she reached Kakashi, Akira threw four kunai at him, trying to pin him down. They exchanged punches and kicks and the both of them were starting to tire of the same thing.

"Ice Summon: Glacial Sword!" Akira summoned an ice sword. It wasn't as good as her Draconian blade but it would have to suffice. Akira sprang back before running at him, again adding chakra to her feet to boost her speed. He caught the blade in his hands and melted it.

"Suiton: Water tunnel!" He pushed the girl back with the gigantic spiral of water. Akira skidded back a few more metres before coming to a halt. Wiping the sweat of her neck, Akira glared at him before smirking.

As she ran at him, she faked left before turning to the right and sending chakra coated shurikens at him. He merely dodged and moved his hand to form signs ram, horse and dragon.

"Earth release: Earth Dragon Bullet!" Kakashi cried and Akira moved herself to dodge the hot rocks sent flying toward her.

"What the hell? How the hell do you know that technique? Fine, I'll show you one of my very own."

"Snake, tiger, horse, monkey, ram, dragon, tiger, monkey, snake, horse, ram, and dragon!" Akira muttered under her breath, smirking when she saw Kakashi's apprehensive face.

"Dimension release: Three Nightmares!" Akira laughed when she saw Kakashi cringe. He was seeing three people from his past fight, and kill each other. Then the wounds he saw that were inflicted on them, would be transferred to his body.

Akira faltered when she saw him smile. _Why is he smiling?_

"You know, you shouldn't try using illusions on someone with the Sharingan... especially someone like me."

Akira knew he was going to try something so she created a shadow clone.

Kakashi came flying at the girl. He was grinning like a madman. She reacted too late and he pinned the girl on the ground.

Akira laughed in his face, he had made a mistake and it'd cost him those bells.

"You know, Kakashi, with that Sharingan activated, you should have figured out that 'I' was a shadow clone. Funny, someone else that was my sensei also made the same mistake."

He turned to face her and fingered the loop where the rings sat. Instead, he came across three acorns that Akira had sneakily swapped with the bells. He turned back to the girl and narrowed his eyes, zeroing on the three bells Akira had in her hand.

"See-ya soon, sensei." She waved a two finger salute at him and went back to find the others. Surprisingly, they were all at the starting point, although Naruto was tied to a post. _How did Kakashi manage to do that before he fought with me?_

"Whose lunch did you try to eat, Naru-kun?" Akira laughed merrily at him. As she started to head over to untie him, Sakura stopped her, glaring at her face.

"You know, glaring counts as frowning and, as most people know, the more you frown, the more wrinkles you'll get. Oh! Is that one I see now?" Akira teased Sakura before poking her forehead.

For some weird reason, she was in a good mood. Akira unclenched her hands and tossed a bell to each of them. Naruto caught it in his mouth, Sasuke caught his in mid-air and Sakura got hit bang smack on the head.

"Wah? Kira-chan! How'd you get these? And why are you giving it to us?" Naruto gave the girl a cute confused look before frowning at the bell. Sasuke was about to speak but Akira cut him off.

"I gave them to you because we don't need them," they all looked at the girl curiously, "we failed."

"HUH?"

Akira felt someone appear next to her.

"Akira's right you guys. You all should forget about even being ninjas. Akira was the only one to realize the whole point of this survival test. But even then, she only tried to ask you to once.

"Teamwork." Sakura stated and Akira looked at her. _No duh, Captain obvious._

"Aw, come on sensei, what the hell? We can be ninja, BELIEVE IT!"

Sasuke still hadn't said anything so Akira turned to study his reaction. He was glaring at the bell and crushing it. She could feel the anger radiating off of him.

She walked over to him and placed her hands on his hands.

"Sasuke," Akira said softly, "Please don't worry, it'll be fine, trust me."

"Alright, I'll give you another chance; I need to go get something so you can all have lunch. Except for Naruto, if anyone feeds him, you all fail." Kakashi disappeared as soon as the words left his mouth.

Sakura sat down and started eating right away. Sasuke soon followed suit but Akira just sat there, wondering what they were going to do. This was obviously a test, to see if they would understand teamwork or not.

Akira was surprised to see Sasuke offer his lunch to Naruto, and even more astonished when Sakura did the same. Naruto complained about not being able to eat so Sakura, reluctantly, fed him herself. Akira laughed at the look of pure happiness on Naruto's face.

She blinked as thunder and lightning suddenly appeared. "Was that necessary, sensei?"

"You…" Kakashi had a dangerous look on his face, "PASS! Those who abandon their mission are scum, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum."

Akira saw his eyes flash with something akin to pain and suffering.

_You have experienced true pain before, haven't you Kakashi?_ Akira smiled at the scene before her; a perfect team, a great leader and students with high potential.

Akira looked back at herself. Did she fit in this picturesque team? No. That was the truth and it didn't hurt at all. Akira didn't belong here; her place was beside _him_, always and forever.

* * *

"What's the distance of the target?" Kakashi's voice sounded through the ear-pieces.

"5 meters, Point A." Sasuke stated first.

"Me too. Point B." Sakura's voice said, loud and clear.

"Me… uh three? Point C." That was Naruto, his obnoxious voice she could easily recognise.

"Me TEN! Point… where are we, Mr Kitten?" She asked, sitting in front of the kitten. Akira reached out to it and the kitten climbed onto her outstretched arm.

"Why hello little one, aren't you a cutie pie?" She cooed and scratched under its ears. Akira had always loved felines, ever since a small grey one had padded along outside her window when she was younger. The cat's freedom made her feel sad but she had felt as if she could live through the feline.

"Now!" Kakashi said all of a sudden and the four of them jumped out at her. She yelped in surprise and stood up, hugging the cat close to her, protectively.

"What the hell, you guys? And girl. Why are you all screaming and running at me? If you want me so bad…" She trailed off when she saw Kakashi's murderous face.

"Why didn't you say anything, Akira? What the hell?"

Akira clicked her tongue at the silver head and pointed a finger at him, nearly dropping the kitty.

"It's not good to swear, Kakashi-sensei, especially when there are children around." She pointed toward Sakura.

"Whatever, Kira-chan. Is that Tora?" Naruto peered closely at the cat, "I want some ramen and I am so hungry now, BELIEVE IT!"

Akira sweat-dropped at the abrupt topic change before confirming it was Tora. There was a ribbon on its ear. When they handed the poor kitty back to the woman, the lady crushed it and started smooching it.

"Gross…" Akira grimaced and sympathised the little thing. Sasuke looked at her before smirking.

"Now we know why it ran away." He stated and smirked at her again.

"Sh… not so loud or she'll hear you!" She mock whispered. The woman walked/wobbled over to them and thanked them before glaring at Naruto. Akira watched her angrily. _Why does everyone hate Naruto so much_? _How would they like it if THEY had a demon inside them?_

* * *

"Ok. For Team 7, we have grocery shopping at the neighbouring town, harvesting vegetables, picking up trash from the river…." Sarutobi listed, not looking up from his huge pile of work. Akira felt imaginary bricks drop onto her head with each suggestion.

"No! No! No! I want to do a more exciting mission! Isn't there anything else?" Naruto interrupted as he crossed his arms and shook his head rapidly.

"He does have a point, Kakashi," Akira turned to face the ninja, "even though we just became genin, we need a more challenging mission." _And I am __**so**__ bored, _she added silently.

"You've just very recently become ninja. Everyone needs to start with the easier missions to gain experience!" Iruka stated.

Akira frowned. These missions were boring her to death. At her skill level, picking up trash and retrieving kittens for old fat ladies didn't really appeal to her. She walked over to the Hokage's desk and peered over the paperwork. Sarutobi glared up at her before breaking out into a knowing smile. He seemed to know exactly what Akira was feeling.

"Ne, Hokage-sama. I know we've just become genin, but wouldn't it be best if we got a more challenging mission? We can take care of ourselves and Kakashi-sensei won't let anything happen to us."

The Hokage frowned at her suggestion and shifted in his seat before standing up. Akira crossed her fingers behind her back, hoping that he'd concede.

"Alright. I get it. If you insist, I'll allow you to take on a C ranked mission. You will be escorting someone back to their home village."

"Yes!" The girl shouted, pumping her fist in the air. Sakura rolled her eyes at Akira's reaction but smiled nonetheless.

"Really? Who is it? A feudal lord? A princess?" Naruto asked excitedly.

Akira walked back to her team and smirked at Kakashi. He was looking at her with a raised eyebrow. He opened his clothed mouth to speak up but the Hokage interrupted him.

"Don't get so hasty. I'll introduce him to you now. You may enter." The old man turned and called out to someone behind the door.

All of them turned around and watched the door. It slowly opened to reveal an old man carrying a bottle of liquor.

"He looks drunk…. Will he be ok to travel?" Kakashi asked the Hokage worriedly. Akira couldn't tell whether he was worried for the drunken man or for the team.

The man looked around the room and snorted. Obviously he wasn't happy with something. "What the hell? They're all just kids!" He took a moment to take a sip from his bottle, "Hey, is the smallest one there, with the idiotic face, really a ninja?"

"Ahaha… who's the smallest one with the idiotic face?" Naruto asked, looking around the room, trying to compare everyone's height.

All of them walked over to Naruto to show him that he was the shortest. Sasuke was the tallest, followed by Akira, Sakura, and then lastly was Naruto.

Before Naruto could charge at the man, Akira grabbed his arm in a tight grip and turned back to face the Hokage.

"Oi, Kira-chan, let me go! I'm going to kill him, believe it!"

"Don't kill the man you're supposed to escort, Naruto." Kakashi stated with a sigh.

It seemed as if Naruto wasn't listening, since he continued to flail and yell, "I'm going to kill you!" at the drunken old man. Akira kept her hold on his arm, silently praying to Kami that the mission would go smoothly.

"Well, I'm Kakashi and glad to be of service."

The way Kakashi had spoken made it feel as if the team were slaves. The drunken man sure looked at them that way. There was something weird about him that unnerved Akira. The way he looked nervously around the room made her suspicious.

"Akira." she stated to him, not revealing her last name.

"The name's Naruto and you'd better remember it! Believe it!"

"Hi, her name's Sakura Haruno, nice to meet you."

Tazuna sneered at the pinkette's manners before turning to Sasuke.

"And you, the one with the permanent scowl, what's your name?"

Sasuke glared at him and hmphed before saying his own name.

"I am the greatest bridge builder, Tazuna."

All of them sweat-dropped at his arrogance. Akira let go of Naruto's arm slowly, making sure the blonde would not rush at the rude man.

"Once I return to my country safely, I will have all of you protect my life with yours until I have completed the bridge."

Akira looked at him. The way he said his words, it sounded like he was being pursued or chased by someone. He was either not telling them something or just being paranoid. _Then again, he could just be over using his power._ She frowned, pursing her lips as her thoughts flowed.

"Alright everyone, meet at the village gates in half an hour. Use that time to go home and get your supplies. Till then." With that Kakashi disappeared with Tazuna.

Everyone looked at each other before shrugging and leaving.

* * *

When they all arrived at the gate, they started heading out of the village and toward their destination. They kept walking for what seemed like forever. It had only been fifty or so minutes when Akira passed by a puddle. She had been deep in her thoughts but something about the puddle looked out of place to her. She slowed down.

_A puddle? But..._ Akira looked up at the sky but didn't see a cloud in the sky. It hadn't rained in over a week.

Kisame had once told her to be observant and careful. Nothing was worse than being ambushed. _Something isn't right. _She slowly observed their surroundings, still walking.

Akira remained alert, but nothing, no one, attacked them.

Five minutes had passed before two people jumped out of the puddles that were scattered on the ground. They both wrapped chakra chains around Kakashi's body and sliced him straight in half. Everyone looked shock but Akira knew he wasn't dead. The silver-haired jounin was hiding somewhere.

The two attackers ran in a different direction, going in for an attack on either side of the group.

"Get behind me, sir!" Sakura said as she quickly positioned herself in front of Tazuna. Akira smiled at the girl's ability to think in the dire situation.

"Naruto, move!" Akira yelled. The blonde had become frozen on the spot, in fear or excitement Akira couldn't tell.

Sasuke quickly jumped into the air as one of the ninjas flung his sword out at the bridge builder. The Uchiha pushed it out of the way with a kunai and shuriken in one easy swipe. Sasuke then got in front of Sakura and Tazuna, in his own defensive stance.

Naruto's hand was bleeding as the other ninja stood over him, laughing to himself. Akira scowled. The ninja had swiped at Naruto and gotten in a hit. The blade had probably been poisoned, meaning the poison was now seeping into Naruto's blood.

"Foolish boy." The ninja chuckled evilly, making Akira's blood boil.

The ninja raised his claw in the air, ready to swipe it down over Naruto and finish him off. Akira was in front of Naruto in a heartbeat, with her knives out.

She growled angrily at the enemy and threw him a death glare. He stopped out of surprise, but then laughed.

"As if you could stop me, hime-sama," he chuckled. The girl ignored the fact that the ninja had said the title knowingly. She could ponder that fact later. _Princess? Big mistake._

Akira lunged toward him and pushed him to the trees. She continued to attack him until his back was against a tree.

The girl smirked.

Once again, Akira started kicking and punching him, lacing her fists with small burst of chakra. She aimed a final hit at his neck.

The ninja ducked under her arm and cut into the side of her body, making her let out a high pitched yelp. Akira's eyes filled up with anger and she gripped on to his neck before throwing him out of the forest, back to where everyone else was.

When she followed the ninja back out, Kakashi was back and already had the two ninja tied up. The adrenaline in her veins slowly faded out and Akira took a deep breath.

"Tazuna, I need to speak to you." Akira growled at the nervous bridge builder. She walked over to him but Kakashi put out a hand to stop her.

"I'll talk to him, Akira, you stay here and make sure Naruto doesn't die from the poison."

Akira sighed but listened to Kakashi, turning back to her team. Sakura looked worn out and Sasuke was, as usual, taunting Naruto.

"Oi, are you okay?"

For a second Akira thought he cared.

"Stupid Naruto."

The girl bit back her words. The little Uchiha could be cruel when he wished to be. Akira walked up to Naruto and lifted his hand so she could look at the cut. It had been poisoned.

Kakashi returned to the team with a grim look on his face. Tazuna was looking even more nervous than before, if that was possible. Akira would have frowned if she hadn't been too busying worrying about Naruto's cut.

"This has become a B-ranked mission. We have to head back to the village. You guys are not ready for such a high levelled mission."

Kakahsi's words cut deep into the genin. Sasuke growled under his breath while Sakura whole-heartedly agreed with Kakashi. She was obviously freaked out by the attack. Akira couldn't blame her. There was nothing that wasn't scary about the ambush.

"No, I will not give up. I swear I will protect and escort Tazuna back to his home safely." With that, Naruto sliced the healing wound on his hand open with a kunai. Akira winced and shook her head.

"Naruto that was a good idea, to let the poison out, but if you lose any more blood; you are going to die."

The blonde panicked as he heard Kakashi's words. He ran around in helpless circles before Sakura stopped him and started bandaging up his hand.

Akira chuckled. She turned to look at their sensei. Sasuke opened his mouth to say something but she beat him to it.

"Look, Kakashi-sensei, you may think that we aren't ready and all, but we are. Team 7 is progressing at an extremely commendable rate and it would be wise for you to let us continue this mission." The girl paused and took a glance at Kakashi's expression. He was contemplating her words.

"And besides, if we head back to the village now, it will be a waste of time." She turned to look at Tazuna, "Don't you need to finish your bridge right away?"

He nodded and turned to the silver headed jounin with pleading eyes.

"Hmm… Alright, I guess we'll continue this mission." The jounin rubbed his head tiredly.

Naruto and Sakura turned to look at him, their eyes big. Kakashi lifted up a hand to stop them from saying anything. "But, you have to promise me that you will do exactly as I say. This has become a dangerous mission."

Everybody nodded.

The group started moving again, this time at a much faster and more urgent pace. Akira slowed down to meet Kakashi's steps. Tazuna was talking to Sasuke & Sakura and Naruto was being paranoid so she was safe to talk to Kakashi without them hearing her.

"What are you so worried about? This team has two jounin and three very capable genin. We can take care of ourselves. Besides, team 7 learns fast." She reminded Kakashi that she wasn't a genin, like the other students.

Kakashi just smiled at her before patting her head. The girl cringed at the action but didn't push his hand away.

"Okay, Akira. You go ahead; I need to think for a while." Kakashi gave her a reassuring smile and she turned to catch up to the rest of her team.

"She really is a different one." Kakashi muttered and the girl smiled.

* * *

**Please review~ thank you ^_^**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for my own OC Akira (and others) and the parts of the story that aren't in the Naruto.  
Thankyou so much to LittleBlueRobyn and Lucy and Guest(anon)~ You guys are my only reviewers =c but I love you for it!**

* * *

"There!" Naruto yelled and threw a kunai at a bush.

"What are you doing, Naruto?" Sakura scolded him before bonking him on the head.

"So violent…" Akira whispered. The pinkette turned around and glared at her, a big glint in her eyes. Akira took a mock step back and raised her hands. She was sure that everybody was still a little freaked out from the earlier ambush so the girl decided to lighten up the mood.

"What did you say?" Sakura asked; her voice was dangerously low. Akira stuck her tongue out at Sakura and walked toward the bush to retrieve the kunai Naruto had thrown. She gasped when she saw it had struck a rabbit on the side.

The girl narrowed her eyes. "Wait a second…" _What is a snow rabbit doing here at this time of year_?

Kakashi sent her a look and she narrowed her eyes again. Before Akira could say anything, Naruto ran up to her and hugged the rabbit, pulling out the kunai and crying.

"Oh no! Rabbit-chan, I didn't mean to hurt you, believe it!"

Before anyone could react, a mist filled the air. Akira immediately sensed danger and pulled into a defensive stance.

"Duck!" Both she and Kakashi yelled at the same time, just as a sword came flying past them. The mist dispersed and Kakashi cursed loudly.

"Zabuza Momochi. A rogue ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist." Kakashi said as he took a step towards the offending intruder.

Naruto ran stupidly at the rogue. Akira rolled her eyes and held out an arm, effectively restraining the blonde. She would normally have reacted the same way as Naruto, but this time she had to protect four people.

"Naruto stay back."

"But why?" Naruto whined. The blonde wished to make up for his mistakes earlier.

"He's not like those other ninja. He's in a whole other league. If he's our opponent, I'll need this." Kakashi said as he slowly raised his hand, gripping his headband.

"Kakashi of the Sharingan eye. Did I get that right?" Zabuza asked. Sasuke gasped a little and glared at Kakashi. Akira rolled her eyes again. She missed being with Akatsuki. No one reacted stupidly or was surprised by little, obvious things.

"It's too bad, huh, but you'll have to hand over the old man." Zabuza stated. Sasuke cut Kakashi off before the jounin could reply to Zabuza.

"Why do you have the Sharingan? You are not an Uchiha, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi sighed and motioned for Akira to explain to Sasuke what had happened.

The other day, Shikamaru had told her what had happened in exchange for more information from the girl. Akira had later gone up to Kakashi to confirm it.

The girl opened her mouth to start explaining the over-complicated and rather sad story of Obito. Before she could actually say anything, Akira felt a rush of chakra as Zabuza appeared behind her.

"My, my. Could you be the missing daughter?"

Akira shivered in disgust as he grabbed her ponytail and stroked her hair.

She felt Sasuke tense beside her. Turning on her heel, Akira swung her leg up to kick Zabuza in the stomach. As she expected, it was a clone.

"How do you know about Akira, Zabuza?" Kakashi questioned him, his eyes narrowing to slits.

"Well, the Leiko clan was pretty famous for the huge amount of power they possessed as well as their Kekkei Genkai." Zabuza paused and turned to look at her, smiling maliciously.

Sasuke growled at him and threw a kunai. Zabuza dodged whilst continuing his speech.

"I for one know that you have a huge power inside you, but as of now, Akira Miyuki, you have not been assigned to my mission list."

"Shut the hell up and get on with this damn fight, Zabuza." Akira hissed at him before trying to run at the rogue. Kakashi grabbed her arm and held her back.

"This is my fight; Zabuza is too strong for you genin."

Akira wanted to argue but she knew what he was doing. Of course, Zabuza was a formidable opponent, but not the hardest. All good assassins knew one rule. If you are sent to kill someone, you do it without talking. Speech provides room for escape or retaliation.

"No, Kakashi, let me fight him first. I want to speak to him."

Her sensei stared at her with a hard look before nodding his head.

"Be careful," was all he said. Akira turned to face Zabuza, matching his sadistic grin with one of her own.

"Well, Zabuza, you should feel lucky. You're about to taste my real power." Akira smiled obnoxiously at him before grabbing her Draconian blade. Channelling her chakra into it, she felt the familiar rush of adrenaline.

Sakura and Sasuke's breath hitched. They could feel the wind power from her sword.

"Wait a second, princess," Zabuza told her, just before she rushed at him, "You want to know why two warring families actually made peace? It wasn't through the marriage."

He casually took out a scroll from his pocket; there was some writing on it. Zabuza tossed it to her.

"I'll give you 2 minutes to read it before we start." He said, "I'm a genuinely nice guy." The ninja jumped back a few paces and lazily sat down, mocking her. Kakashi tensed, ready to move if anything happened.

Akira glanced at her team mates and her eyes softened at how worried they looked. Sakura was stiff and Naruto was trembling slightly. Sasuke just stared at her with impassive but worried eyes.

"This contract is to be held as proof of the unity of the Leiko and Miyuki clans. If by any chance the first child of Hikari and Kaoru dies, this contract shall become void of validity." Akira read out, her eyes widening. She was the first child. Therefore, if she died, both her parents' clans would go back to warring.

The elders of the clans had never liked each other, despite her grandparents wishing for peace. Akira had always wondered why she had never been introduced to her families. Now she knew.

"I never knew. This was why I was never allowed out. This was why my parents never let me eat anything different or new. Who the heck made up this shit anyway?" Akira glared at Zabuza and threw the scroll back to him.

"And why the hell do you have the scroll, Zabuza?" She growled at him, launching herself into the air. Compressing the atmosphere below her feet, she hovered above everyone. She placed her blade carefully on her shoulders before moving her hands into signs.

Zabuza threw some shuriken at her before disappearing. His arm connected to her back and as she fell, his knee came up to her gut. Akira threw out her elbow and hit him on the jaw. Quickly finishing the hand signs, she pushed her arms out, above her head.

Akira could feel Zabuza honing in on her from below.

"Crystal Release: Spears of Hate!" As soon as the words left her mouth, a thousand glistening crystal spears surrounded Zabuza. They all flew at him, leaving no room for him to escape.

"Water Release: Water sphere shield."

Akira heard Zabuza mutter before she saw her spears shatter and fall. The girl growled and dropped down toward him, using gravity to heighten her speed. With her blade in front of her in one hand, she used her other hand to deflect the stream of kunai rushing at her.

She closed in on Zabuza, readying her sword for his heart. A heavy feeling set around her and she cried out as millions of water shards hit her body. Refusing to go down, she continued at Zabuza, channelling more chakra into her blade.

As she came nearer to him, she felt power rush through her and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she felt faster, lighter and more agile. Thrusting her blade into him she heard a satisfactory pop before Zabuza's scream filled the air. The two of the crashed into the gorund, Akira using Zabuza to cushion her fall.

Twisting her leg up to kick him in the head, she flung her free elbow to his nose.

Akira felt different; she felt free.

The girl became too caught up in throwing hits at Zabuza; she didn't feel the chakra source that had appeared behind her. She didn't hear Naruto shout or Kakashi rush to her aid.

As she readied herself to give the final blow, Akira felt something run right through her. Hot blood dripped down the front of her shirt.

"AKIRA!"

She heard someone scream her name before her body felt heavy and drooped. Slowly, as the weapon that had pierced her chest was pulled out, she felt her body healing; draining chakra from her storages and healing the wound immediately.

Akira looked up one last time to see Zabuza mouth 'contract' before her eyes became heavy and shut. The girl's body flopped to the ground. She could hear Naruto yell in the distance.

* * *

Akira had been out for a long time. Her strength needed to be replenished and her chakra pools needed to be refilled. By the time she regained consciousness, the atmosphere was different.

She was no longer at the battle site.

"Hey, I think she's waking up."

The girl heard an unfamiliar voice say. There was some rustling above her head and light poured through her eyelids.

"Wake up Akira; you've been out longer than Kakashi."

_What? Kakashi was knocked out as well? What the hell happened?_

Akira opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the light in the room. Seeing Naruto's smiling face had her grinning tiredly.

"Hey, Naru-kun, what'd I miss?" Akira reached out to ruffle his hair but he grabbed her arm and pulled her up instead.

"Well, after you fainted, Kakashi and Zabuza had this huge fight. Of course, I helped too."

She heard someone yell and saw Naruto get hit in the head, knocking his forehead onto hers and causing her to yelp in pain.

"Oi, whoever that was, please don't hurt the crippled." Akira scolded the person, already knowing it was Sakura.

"Oh please, you weren't even hurt; I don't know why you bothered to feign sleep for so long."

Akira narrowed her eyes at Sakura. She was being a prick.

"Listen, Sakura," she dragged out her name on purpose, smiling at the pinkette's agitated face, "you just stood there throughout that whole battle. I bet you didn't even help Sasuke or Naruto. How dare you reprimand me? You have no right to do anything except for sit in a corner and feel ashamed." Akira had risen to stand in front of her, glaring down at the other girl's face.

Akira wouldn't normally get angry at people so quickly, but there was just something about Sakura's ignorance and luxury that she couldn't stand.

The pinkette cowered under her gaze, turning her eyes to look at the floor.

"Pathetic. If you're going to challenge someone, at least keep it up till the end." Akira scoffed and turned, going to look for Kakashi.

"Oi! Kaka-sensei, what's going to happen with sleeping arrangements?" Akira asked the silver head but he just mumbled something and swatted her away. She stood there and stared at him, carefully analysing his wounds before locking the door to the room.

Kakashi looked at her warily before sighing and sitting up. She was beside him in 2 seconds and supporting all of his weight.

"You know, for an old man, you sure do weigh a lot." Akira teased him before casually healing some of the major wounds.

"Since when do you know medical ninjutsu, Akira?" He glanced warily at her before shifting into a more comfortable position.

"Kakashi, I am doing this for you because I really don't want to put up with three very immature team mates just because you aren't alive to yell at them." She purposely jabbed one of his bruises and grinned in satisfaction when he winced.

"Okay, you wanted to know about the sleeping arrangements, right? Well, girls share, boys share, I get my own room. Done deal."

"Uh, not done deal, I have two things to say to you. One, are you implying you are not a girl or a boy..."

He glared at her before shaking his head.

"...And two, if you put Sasuke and Naruto in the same room alone for more than ten minutes, let's just say I won't be the one cleaning up the blood and burying the corpses."

The silver head jounin chuckled lowly under his mask. He sat up straighter and opened his eye to look at her carefully.

"Okay, so let me guess, you can't be in the same room as Sakura and if I put you in a room with Naruto, who knows what antics you two will get up to…" He pondered on the thought for a bit before grinning at her weirdly.

"You could always room with me…"

Akira backed away from him and threw a kunai at his head.

"No WAY, you PERVERT!"

Kakashi chuckled at her before sliding back under his covers.

"Guess that means you're stuck with the Uchiha then."

"Can't I just room by myself?" She whined.

"No. You're injured."

She glared at him but didn't complain anymore. It was the better of all her choices. Casually, she waved at him behind her back before slamming the door extra hard.

* * *

"AKIRA!"

The girl grabbed Sasuke by the collar and ran out of the living room. She locked the bedroom door and checked it twice before flopping onto one of the beds and turning to look at Sasuke.

"Hehehe, Kakashi put us in a room together but I guess both he and I forgot about Sakura's reaction."

Sasuke just looked at her impassively before opening the window and jumping out.

Akira blinked.

"Stupid Uchiha, all he cares about is training." She grumbled. The girl turned and started unpacking her small bag, grabbing a few things before going to take a shower.

When Akira stepped out of the shower, Sasuke was sitting on his bed looking his usual grumpy self.

"You take forever." He stated before pushing past her into the shower.

"What the hell is your problem, Uchiha?" She asked him, her eyebrow twitching. Shaking her head, she sighed and slid under the covers of the bed. Within seconds she had fallen asleep. For once her sleep was peaceful and dreamless.

The next few days, Kakashi stayed in bed and healed at the pace of her uncle's grandma, (technically her great-grandmother) and soon, before they knew it, he was up and going once more.

Akira had to admit, it was probably her healing skills that had helped him improve so quickly. The first thing he said to the four of them when he woke up really made her regret healing his major wounds.

"Okay team, today they are learning how to climb trees."

Akira sweat-dropped. She slowly trudged back to her room, signalling for Kakashi to awaken her from her hibernation when their team had finished learning a preschool chakra control trick.

"Wake me up when tomorrow comes." She laughed loudly and retreated to the confines of Sasuke's and her room. It was going to be one heck of a long wait. She knew the blonde knucklehead and the young Uchiha wouldn't figure out how to do it for a while.

* * *

"There. Did it," she said, watching her team's reactions closely. Kakashi had managed to drag her lazy butt out of bed and into the forest to train.

Naruto was gaping at her with his eyes wide open whilst Sasuke just seemed to glare in annoyance at her. Was that a bit of jealousy she saw?

"Good job Akira," Kakashi stated, the slight twitch in his eye gave his surprise away, "you have very strong control over your chakra."

"Thanks sensei," she said, thinking back to that one time when he had caught her training with chakra threads.

"Well, it seems that the best at chakra control is Akira, a girl, and Sakura seems to have mastered it as well, another girl." Kakashi started talking before she cut him off.

"What do you mean by a girl? Girls can be very capable ninjas. I don't like your sexist tone." She said, frowning at him. For once, Sakura wasn't arguing with her. Akira smirked.

"You're right. I'm sorry, that was pretty sexist," he apologised, scratching the back of his head but not looking sorry at all.

"It seems Akira is the closest to becoming Hokage, unlike someone I know. And the Uchiha clan is just disappointing. You can't even keep up with Sakura. It's not all that it's cracked up to be, after all."

Akira cringed. Even though Kakashi was trying to motivate them to work harder, he was seriously not going about it the right way. The girl turned to face Sakura and flinched again. Kakashi was not going to live to see dinner.

"There's no way you'll ever see me become Hokage," Akira scoffed, trying to lessen the growing tension, "I'd rather become a charity case."

Being totally honest, Hokage was the last thing she wanted to become. "And the Uchiha clan is really powerful," she said, in pure seriousness. _He_ had proved this point and Sasuke was just about confirming it for her.

"I mean sure, most of them were arrogant pricks with sticks up their arses, but... but not all of them were."

She thought back to all her memories with _him_ and thought about all the sacrifices _he_ had made. Turning away from her team she glared at a tree and forced her tears to disperse and return to wherever they were before.

"Some Uchiha are strong and know the real meaning of strength as well as compassion and loyalty," she said, fully aware of Sasuke's eyes boring straight into her. "You know that right, sensei?"

"Hmm," Kakashi hummed, not looking at her. She took that as a yes.

Akira spent the next twenty or so minutes watching her teammates intently. Sakura kept a considerable distance from her and stared at Sasuke as if he were Casanova.

"I understand that you have learnt this technique but it's still best to keep practicing and make it better," Kakashi said, sitting down next to her.

"If you say so sensei," she replied, making a clone and ordering it to climb the tree for her. Kakashi sighed, but didn't say anything else.

* * *

It was close to lunch time and Akira had been observing Naruto and Sasuke for a while now. She was pretty certain she knew what each of them were doing wrong. They were improving - she had to give them that - but not by much.

There was an obvious lack of focus from the both of them. Or maybe it was that they were focusing too hard on actually doing it and not controlling the chakra.

The girl got up, leaving them, and went back to the old man's - Tazuna's - house to fetch him.

"Hey Tazuna-san," she said, walking casually through the front door. Her Draconian blade was strapped to her back, something she carried everywhere with her. It was a reminder that she still belonged to two powerful clans and she had a duty to uphold. Akira usually wore it for intimidation purposes though.

Tazuna was sitting at the kitchen table scribbling furiously, papers scattered about everywhere. She peered over his shoulder and saw that they were blueprints of the bridge.

"Kakashi-sensei said that we can go to the bridge," she said, still trying to understand the messy tumble of scrawling.

At first Akira thought he hadn't heard her, but he was on his feet ready to go before she could blink, equipment packed and everything. _Civilian? Right..._

"Alright then, what are they waiting for? I don't have all day! You kids these days don't know what it means to work."

"Just lead the way already, old man," Akira sighed, biting back a rude retort, and followed him.

As they walked towards the bridge, Tazuna made it his duty to explain to her his joys in making the bridge. The construction was close to finishing and they just needed a little bit more time to complete it.

That of course, was why team 7 was there; to protect the few brave workers that remained. Apparently it would take a few more weeks to complete.

"Many people are counting on me, whether they'll admit it or not." Tazuna boasted, utterly serious.

Akira glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow. Tazuna didn't look like hero material. He was old and he liked to drink. He had an attitude almost as awful as Sakura's. But he gave people hope, that was what they needed most right now and he gave them that.

"You're brave," she stated quietly, after deciding on the word to label him as, "You're brave for a civilian man."

He was risking his life for his village despite the dangers and hardships. Yes, Tazuna was as much of a hero as you could get.

Akira looked up at the clouds. If only she could become someone like that. Accepting her burden and forgetting the troubles that lay around her. If only.

There really wasn't much to do. The girl walked around the bridge, getting used to the area. There was a tense atmosphere, as if everyone were waiting for a battle. Apart from watching the clouds or practicing her chakra threads, the only thing left to do was watch Tazuna and his workers.

There weren't many of them working, but they did get the work done quickly and efficiently. Most of the men seemed tense and for some reason Akira didn't think it was because of the strain of their work.

She observed each man quietly, tracing the details of their faces and the lines of sweat running down their chins.

"Tazuna!" A worker called out as he approached the area in which Akira was sitting.

"What is it Takuma?" Tazuna questioned tiredly. The old man looked worn out. It had already been three or four hours since they had arrived at the bridge and Akira could see the sleepiness begin to seep into the man's expression.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I think it's for the best if I stop working on the bridge... My family is getting pretty worried about me."

Akira's eyes snapped up toward Takuma. He looked like he was in his late forties, nearing fifties. He had a deep tan, probably from working outside in the sun all day. The man was trembling slightly, but Akira didn't know if it was because he was scared of Gatou or Tazuna.

The look Tazuna was sending him was beyond deadly.

"Not you as well! You can't give up now!" Tazuna exclaimed angrily. The girl could hear a tone of defeat lace his words. There was desperation in Tazuna and it almost hurt her to watch him crumble.

"Look, we've been close for a while now," Takuma said, his voice shaking a bit, "but we're bound to get noticed soon... And if we get killed then we would have done all of this work for nothing. Why don't we just quit building the bridge?"

"No, I can't do that," said Tazuna, shaking his head, "I can't let them down."

"Let who down?" Takuma demanded as his eyebrows furrowed. Akira frowned and stood up from her seat under the shade of a tree. There was tension in the air and she had to be ready to step in if things got bad.

Tazuna ignored his question, "This is our bridge. The one we are building altogether. The one in which we believed would be the answer to all our country's problems. I, no, we can't stop now. Not when we've come so far."

The old man sent Takuma home, saying that he wouldn't be needed any longer.

Akira stod up and helped the old man carry come of the wooden bars. Since Takuma had gone home, Tazuna had been carrying the planks by himself.

The both of them continued to work, carrying planks around. Soon enough, Sakura came to fetch them and they all headed back to the house.

* * *

"Uh…" she sweat-dropped, Sasuke and Naruto were stuffing their mouths with food that they probably wouldn't hold down.

"Y-y-you guys…" Sakura stuttered, a glare forming on her face and an irk mark on her forehead.

"Hey, Kakashi, watch this. Three, two, one; vomit." Right on Akira's cue, both boys turned and spewed out all their food onto the floor behind them.

Kakashi sighed and stood up. He turned and apologized to Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, before dragging both boys up the stairs by the ear.

Sakura stared at the pile of vomit and frowned. She obviously didn't like the thought of cleaning it up.

Akira smirked and waved a two finger wave at the pinkette before bolting up to the bedroom. Sasuke was sitting on his bed, clutching his stomach and groaning. Akira laughed at him as she ran to get a towel.

"You know, Sasuke, if you just relax and take it easy, you might find that training will become a lot easier."

He scoffed at her advice.

"You know, Akira," he mocked, "if you just mind your own business, you might find dealing with everyone a lot easier."

The girl growled at him and threw the towel at his face. If he didn't want her help, fine. She crawled into the bed and closed her eyes. Akira had a feeling she would need energy for tomorrow.

* * *

"Rise and shine, Princess."

The girl's eyes snapped open and instinctively punched the person who had spoken. 'Princess' was kind of a switch word for her.

"What the hell?" Sasuke groaned and backed away.

"Shut up, idiot, and go away."

"No, Akira. Kakashi said that we'd all be going to the bridge today so you had better get your butt up."

Akira sat up slowly and sighed slightly. _Two minutes awake and I'm already sighing_.

"Well maybe I could change if you went out of the room." She growled pathetically before standing up and turning to face him.

"No." He stated simply and crossed his arms.

"What the hell do you mean 'no'?"Akira shook her head and shrugged. He asked for it. Slowly lifting up her shirt she heard Sasuke gulp. Reaching to take her singlet off, the girl heard the door open before slamming shut. Chuckling slightly, she finished changing and headed out.

* * *

**Next update won't be till Tuesday or Wednesday. I have a _lot_ of homework to do and four tests I _really_ need to cram for. Please review! C=**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for my own OC Akira (and others) and the parts of the story that aren't in the Naruto.**

**LittleBlueRobyn you reviewed right when I was about to post this chapter! You're amazing C=**

* * *

"Oh, that's nice, just leave without me, why don't you?" Akira said, pissed off. The others had disappeared by the time she arrived at the dining table. They had obviously been in a rush to get rid of her.

"Well, if you're all going to be inconsiderate like that, I guess I'll just eat breakfast and take my time." She put her Draconian blade down and sat down on a chair.

Tsunami smiled kindly at her before setting a bowl of soup and two pieces of toast in front of the girl.

"Thanks Tsunami-san." She smiled at the lady and dug in. It was delicious!

Akira reached for a napkin and wiped her mouth. Picking up the blade, she said good-bye to Tsunami before heading to the bridge.

As she jumped from the rooftop to rooftop, Akira felt the air thicken and frowned. Something was happening. When she reached the bridge, there was so much fog she could barely see. The girl heard the sound of kunai clashing and closed her eyes.

"I trained with Akatsuki for a reason." She closed her eyes and began picturing everything. There was a dome ahead of her, a few paces to the right. Akira kept her eyes closed as she scanned the chakra signatures.

"Sasuke!" She yelled. "Are you in there?"

There were groans and a few grunts of pain before he answered. "Yeah, but don't come in or else we'll both be stuck."

Akira frowned. There was no way she was going to stay outside when Sasuke was being hurt. Shaking off a nagging feeling, she stepped into the dome. Akira immediately regretted her choice, as she was pelted with needles and senbon straight away.

"What the heck is this?" She screamed as she quickly plucked them out and hurled them back at the mirrors.

Another wave of needles flew toward her and Akira deflected them with the blade. As the girl dodged and returned the senbon, she located Sasuke and gasped.

He was in a very bad condition.

"Oi, idiot. I told you to stay out. Now we have to rely on Naruto."

Akira sent him a questioning look and flashed over to where he was slumped. "Naruto's not here yet?"

Sasuke shook his head 'no' and jumped to evade another wave of needles.

"Who the hell is throwing all these senbon?" Akira shouted before realising that there was someone in the mirrors.

"That's Haku, Zabuza's lackey."

Akira caught a glimpse of the person running though the mirrors. "Oh my Kami, a boy of that age knows the Crystal Techniques?" She shook her head in disbelief.

"Rat-Ram-Horse-Tiger-Dragon." The hand-signs came naturally to her. As her hands slammed onto the ground, she kicked out a leg and pushed Sasuke out of the way. A large spear came flying at the spot he had once been in.

Her speed had increased by three hundred per cent and everything was clearer to her. A rush of adrenaline coursed through her veins. Akira grinned.

"Sasuke, do you know when Naruto is coming?"

He shook his head in response before turning back to the mirrors, trying to locate the boy.

"Impossible!" Haku cried out as Sasuke threw a kunai at him. The Uchiha's Sharingan was activated and he was frowning in concentration. Haku muttered something and Akira felt her blood spike.

"Move out of the way!" Akira screamed at him. A huge volley of needles streamed to where Sasuke had been crouching.

This had been going on for too long. There was one jutsu she could use to help them but it would suck away nearly all of her chakra.

"Dragon-Ram-Snake-Ram-Tiger-Dragon-Horse!" She yelled out, her voice full of desperation. As their surroundings flickered and darkened she felt the atmosphere change.

"What the-" Sasuke muttered in surprise as he felt his body become lighter. Haku continued to throw needles out from the surrounding mirrors. Bracing himself for the pain, Sasuke was surprised when the needles went right through him.

"As long as no one disturbs the atmosphere inside these mirrors, my jutsu should hold up just fine." Akira told him before passing out.

As her sight flickered into darkness, Akira heard Naruto's voice. _No! Don't, Naruto!_

* * *

She was walking, from nowhere to nowhere. There was nothing behind or in front of her. Just darkness.

"You are a contradiction."

Akira tossed and turned mentally, wishing for the voices to leave her head. _It's been so long, why do they have to come back now?_

"You are nothing but useless trash."

Her physical body remained motionless but her subconscious struggled in pain.

"You should never have been born."

Akira couldn't stand the pain anymore. It hurt so badly. The darkness started closing in and she felt herself losing control. Everything started shaking and crumbling and new voices entered her hearing.

**"Wake up, Akira, wake up."**

The shaking worsened and the girl reached out to grab something, only to find, yet again, nothingness.

**"God damnit, Aki-chan, **_**WAKE UP!**_**"**

She blinked several times as light filtered through her eyelids.

"You're awake," Naruto grinned at her. Akira smiled tiredly back at him before sitting up. She looked around and nearly jumped out of her skin. The whole village was surrounding her and her team.

"Hey Naruto, what happened? I passed out after my jutsu activated."

Naruto looked, ashamed, before scratching the back of his head. "You see, about that..." Before he could continue, Akira heard a groan from beside her.

"Sasuke-kun?" A shriek filled the air and Akira winced at the level of noise. She turned to look at the boy lying beside her and gasped softly.

"What the hell?" The girl had thought her jutsu would do the trick but no, Sasuke looked horrible. There were so many wounds on his body. She struggled to move her hands, trying to bring up the chakra energy to heal her fallen team-mate.

Her attempts were futile and Akira slumped back. She looked up at the sky tiredly before sitting up again.

"Hey, did any of you guys call me Aki-chan when you were trying to wake me?"

Naruto and Sakura shook their heads. Kakashi frowned. Akira frowned. If none of them had called her that, and Sasuke had passed out, who had called her Aki-chan? There was only one person who called her that.

Sasuke groaned and stirred. Sakura flung herself onto his body, clutching him as he sat up.

"I'm awake, Sakura," he said softly, looking down at the girl sobbing into his chest.

"You had me so worried, Sasuke!" She cried out and hugged him tighter, causing him to wince in pain.

"Uh, Sakura?" Akira prodded her, only to have the pinkette snap back at her.

"Shut up, Akira, it was your fault he nearly died. He got hurt protecting your sorry ass."

Akira wanted to retort but she bit back her remark. Sakura was right. It was her entire fault that Sasuke was hurt like this, it was her fault that Naruto got hurt, that everyone got hurt. All of this was her fault.

Everything was _always _her fault.

"Yeah, Sakura. I guess I have no comment for that. I guess I really set back the team, huh?" Akira blinked back the tears and looked down at her hands. She couldn't bear to look at Sasuke; he was probably so disappointed in her. If only she had listened to him and stayed out of the dome. If only she had protected him with her body instead of using a jutsu that would leave her body vulnerable. Why did she have to jump head first into the battle like that?

"Hey, Aki-" Sasuke started to say but she silenced him by putting up her hand. Slowly, she stood up and brushed herself off. She needed some time away from this team, to yell at herself for failing. After all that training with the Akatsuki… she still couldn't protect herself, or those that were close to her.

"Sakura, you're being mean to Akira," Naruto turned to look at the girl. Akira couldn't tell what his expression was because she was looking away.

"You were awesome out there Kira-chan. Sasuke would be dead if it wasn't for your jutsu! Believe it."

Akira smiled drily.

Pity.

Everyone was sending wave after wave of pity to her. It felt utterly _horrible_.

"I'll be back soon. If I'm not back by tomorrow night, go home without me." She stated emotionlessly before walking through the townspeople, toward the forest. As soon as her feet hit the damp forest soil, she picked up her pace and was soon sprinting, not looking at where she was headed.

* * *

"Aki-chan!"

The girl paused and stopped, her feet skidding. _Where is that voice coming from? And why is it calling out my old nickname?_

"Ita…chi?" Akira called out hesitantly, not wanting to be disappointed. She followed the sound of the voice as it kept calling out her name.

"Aki, Aki, Aki-chan!"

The girl gasped. A crow sat on a branch and it was singing her name.

"Wait a second…" she wondered, "Aren't crows _his _signature summoning?"

She pondered on this thought a bit before the crow flew onto her shoulder.

"Aki-chan, how have you been? Has the village been treating you well?"

Akira nearly cried of happiness. It was Itachi; _he_ had sent this crow to her!

"Oh, Ita, I miss you so much. He reminds me of you so badly." Akira whimpered and stroked the crow's sleek feathers.

"So much has happened, sensei, I'm not even sure how to explain it! It started off so weird. Your brother and I had a match the first day I went to academy. He was really weak back then and it has surprised me how much he's grown." She paused and smiled tenderly at the bird that was now in her lap. She had sat down at the root of the tree, leaning her head back and looking up at the forest canopy.

"He really is your brother, Itachi. I only wish he could be kind like you. Hopeful thinking, isn't it?" Akira leaned back and looked at the pieces of sky that were peering through the treetops.

"I've made lots of new friends and my team is perfect. Team 7 is all I could have ever hoped for. Maybe I don't get along with Sakura very well but I guess without her, the team wouldn't be complete." Again, the girl started stroking the bird's feathers. The soft sensation had calmed her misery. _He_ always seemed to manage to make her forget about her worries and problems.

"I miss you so much, Ita. So, so much!" Tears streamed down Akira's face and she curled up into a ball, clutching the crow softly.

"If only you were here, I would be able to tell you so much." She laughed sadly.

"Don't cry, Aki-chan. We will see each other soon. I miss you very much too. Take care now. I have to go, but keep Daichi with you so that I'll always know that you're safe."

Akira gasped and sucked in a breath. If she had any doubts about it being _him_, they were all gone now.

"So your name is Daichi, huh? Well nice to meet you, I hope we'll get to be great buddies." The girl grinned at the black feathered bird and stood up. It was time to go back to her team. She dried her tears and whispered thanks to the trees. Even this far away from _him_, _he _still watched over her.

* * *

"I'm back!" Akira sang as she waltzed into Tazuna's house. Drying her shoes off and slipping up to the room, she hummed a familiar song.

"Where the hell were you, Kira-chan? We were so worried."

She laughed as Naruto pulled her into a tight hug. "It's alright now, Naru-kun, everything is fixed now."

The blonde looked at her weirdly before shaking his head. Drawing his attention to the crow on her shoulder, he cooed softly.

"Aww, where'd you find the birdie? He's so cute!"

Akira smiled softly and patted Naruto's head. Moving to the side of him, she continued up the stairs to the bedroom.

"Hey Akira," Kakashi greeted her at the top of the stairs, looking quickly at Daichi before narrowing his eyes. Akira didn't allow her heart to increase. He might have known something was up but it was still only a suspicion.

"Hey sensei. Sorry about running out before, I just had some things to deal with." The girl grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of her head. Kakashi laughed loudly before ruffling her hair and sending her on her way.

Shaking her head slowly, Akira entered the bedroom and started changing her clothes. The lights were off so it didn't really matter if Sasuke walked in.

The bathroom door clicked open and said Uchiha sauntered out. He faltered when he saw the girl but shrugged, walking over to his bed and feigning ignorance.

About two seconds later, he shot up and glared at her.

"Where did you get that crow?" Sasuke growled, his eyes narrowing. It was similar to the way Kakashi's eyes had been only moments ago.

"First of all," she glared at him, "Daichi is not a thing, second of all; he has nothing to do with you so you don't need to know."

That was a lie. Daichi was from Itachi and Itachi had everything to do with little Uchiha here. But she wasn't exactly going to tell him that.

"Anyways…" she drawled before sitting down on her bed with a flop.

"What happened whilst I was passed out? How'd that masked kid get you so injured?" Akira winced as he glared at her but held her ground.

"None of your business." Sasuke growled at her before rolling over and pulling up the covers. "Make sure that bird doesn't poop on me while I'm asleep."

"You know, if you say that, Daichi just might be tempted to do exactly the opposite." Akira chuckled as the boy visibly grimaced. Patting Daichi's feathers once, she too turned on her back and let darkness welcome her.

* * *

As the soft sunlight shone through the blinds of their room, both she and Sasuke groaned. This was the day their team was supposed to go home and they all dreaded it. They had only just gotten into the routine of life at that village and now they were going to have to change back.

"Shotgun on bathroom." Akira stated before zipping into the shower and washing the drowsiness away.

"Sasuke!" She growled and heard him gulp loudly.

"Hn?" He asked nonchalantly, feigning innocence. She stepped out of the bathroom, still fully clothed, and walked straight up to him.

"What did you do to Daichi?" The girl poked him hard in the chest, glaring at his poker face.

"What do you mean?" The Uchiha muttered, averting his gaze and pushing her away from him slightly.

"You know exactly what I mean, little Uchiha. You can't hide it from me, where is Daichi?"

He just shook his head and fled to the bathroom, leaving her speechless and annoyed.

"I can't believe he stole the bathroom too!" Akira groaned and slapped her forehead, cursing her stupidity. Slipping on her clothes, Akira picked up her blade and trudged dejectedly down the stairs.

"Kira-neechan!" The girl heard a voice yell loudly before she found herself on the ground with Inari sitting on her.

"Oi, Inari, I never told you to sit on Kira-chan. I just said to say good-morning!"

Akira turned to face Naruto and grinned. What a welcome.

"So," she drawled slowly, pushing Inari off her gently, "what's for breakfast?"

Just as Naruto was about to answer, Tsunami came in with some noodles and milk. Crinkling her nose up, Akira sniffed the food and was surprised that the combination worked well.

"Milk and noodles, well I never." The girl laughed and dug in. _Kami, it's delicious!_

Both she and Naruto heard footsteps and looked up to greet Sakura and Kakashi.

Akira shook a thought from her head. It was just a coincidence they came down the stairs together. _I mean, Kakashi is centuries old, right?_

"Morning all." Kakashi greeted before plopping down on the seat to her left. Akira raised an eyebrow at him.

"Are you up on time for once, sensei?" She mocked him teasingly, laughing loudly when he grimaced and turned away from her.

"Don't remind me." He growled softly and started eating. Akira looked back down at her plate and frowned. _Where's Sasuke? He is taking an awfully long time in the bathroom_.

"He's not in the bathroom, he's..."

A black blob of feathers landed in her face.

"Daichi, what _are_ you doing, my fine feathered friend?"

He was about to answer but she sent him a warning look and he just squawked. Kakashi narrowed his eyes and stared at the small bird for a long time. He shrugged and continued to eat.

"Well," Akira stated, standing up and grabbing her bowl, "I'm full, I guess I'll just go fetch Sasuke from somewhere in the woods now, seeing as he's probably lost."

Kakashi gave her a disapproving look and Sakura just glared at her. Akira smiled sweetly at her, patted Naruto's head twice before walking out the door.

"We'll be back before you guys are done packing your stuff." She winked and disappeared, reappearing in a random clearing in the forest.

"Sasuke?" The girl called out, raising her voice. Daichi flapped his wings and flew off, probably to find some food.

"Sasuke, come out, we have to go soon."

Akira nearly shrieked in surprise when Sasuke jumped out from behind her.

"Some ninja you are," he scoffed, "getting surprised so easily."

The girl pouted and turned away from him, keeping her back facing him as he tried to get her to look at his face.

"Akira, don't be like that I was only joking."

She smirked as Sasuke shouted out in surprise when her clone jumped out from behind a tree. She was trying to be considerate but the laughter was too hard to control.

"Akira," he groaned, hitting her softly on the shoulder.

"It was payback," she laughed, "some ninja you are," she mimicked him, "getting fooled so easily."

They both headed back just in time to see the others start heading off. Thankfully, Akira had already packed their stuff the night before and was ready to go in thirty seconds.

"We're off!" She and Naruto yelled loudly as they pranced ahead of everyone. She stopped when she felt Naruto stop and turned to look at him. Inari was in front of him and they were trying their best not to cry.

"It's okay to cry, Naruto-niichan," Inari stated, sniffing slightly.

"No, I am a ninja, I won't cry," Naruto said, sniffing louder before adding, "but you can cry, it's fine."

Akira smiled at their antics and turned back to her team. Sasuke was scowling, like usual. She walked over to him and tapped his nose.

"What's wrong?" Akira questioned, truly curious.

"Nothing," he muttered, turning away from her and walking after Kakashi. Sakura looked at her once before running after him.

"So childish." Akira shook her head and followed them, waving to Inari and dragging Naruto by the ear.

* * *

Akira didn't know how it had happened. As soon as team 7 had gotten home, she headed straight for her apartment and fell asleep. The next thing she knew, she had Anbu dragging her out of bed and soon found herself in front of Ibiki Morino, renowned information gatherer.

Akira surmised. _Kakashi probably told the Hokage about Daichi. The Hokage probably felt like he couldn't trust me, like I lied to his face. Now I have to be interrogated. Joy._

"What's going on?" The girl asked as they dragged her out of her bed and toward the interrogation room.

"We have orders to escort you to the interrogation room."

Akira flinched at the Anbu's cold tone.

As they ran to Ibiki, Akira contemplated and sorted through her thoughts. How was she going to explain Daichi without raising suspicion?

By the time they reached the door of the interrogation room, she was sweating a puddle. Ibiki was renowned for getting information from all of his patients. Through normal questions and/or other means.

"Is Ibiki…?" She trailed off and looked to her feet as she saw the Hokage approaching. He had a stern look on his face and she was disappointed in myself for upsetting him.

"Akira." His tone was harsh and sad. The girl felt herself sink towards the ground, still not daring to look at his eyes.

"Hokage-sama, I swear, I have not and will not betray this village! I'm not giving out any information! Please." She begged him, lifting her head up and staring hard at him.

"I'm sorry." His words cut deep. It wasn't the fact that he apologised, it was the fact that he truly meant it, he really was sorry.

"Please! You don't know, there are still lots of things I can tell you, I swear! Just because I'm different doesn't mean I'll betray you, please believe me. Don't make me go in there… Please." Her voice broke and she sunk down to the ground. They couldn't look through her memories. They just couldn't.

Pity.

What a horrible feeling. There was so much pity and sympathy in this corridor; it was suffocating her. These people didn't understand; she couldn't have someone look into her head! There were horrible memories she didn't want to be revealed.

"Ibiki?" Akira shuddered as the door opened and a man stepped out. His face was scarred, not ugly, but scarred.

"Please…" She whimpered, shaking her head violently. The Anbu pushed her into the small room. Ibiki forced a smile and told her to sit. She sat down on the seat and he came up to her.

"I'm just going to look into your memories a bit, relax." His voice was professional and emotionless; it was scary. He had a very sadistic tone in his words that chilled Akira to the core.

She struggled a bit but it was useless; he was already inside her head and probing through her thoughts.

_Get out, get out get out_! She screamed mentally. He wasn't welcome there. He needed to get out.

Sounds of screams resounded in the air and beatings followed soon afterward. "Useless brat, would someone just kill you already? You're nothing but a nuisance!"

She screamed and clutched her head, willing Ibiki to stop the memory flow.

"Take her to the cells. She can spend the night with the rats. Then she will learn her lesson."

_Please stop. It hurts. Oh Kami it burns. Somebody help me. Help me!_

Cold eyes stared down at her. "Disgusting."

_Stop it! Get out of my memories. It hurts, IT HURTS! Please somebody! Anybody? Help me!_

"I can't believe that we have to rely on **her**."

_ITACHI!_

Akira flung Ibiki off of her and stormed out of the room. She didn't give a crap anymore. They had entered her personal space. It was clear she wasn't welcome here any longer.

"Out of my way, get away!" The girl stormed through the Anbu corridor and sped up her pace as they started to follow her. She exited through the door and passed the Academy.

"Fuck this." Akira took off, sprinting; leaving a trail of dust behind her. If they didn't want her, she would disappear.

* * *

"How could you? You knew Akira had a bad past. You _knew_ Akira would never betray the village. For Kami sake she gave you precious information!" He was beyond pissed. How dare Kakashi do this to Akira? She was a valuable friend and asset, now she was gone.

Sasuke clenched his fist and willed his temper to calm.

"I've had a bad past too. I'm connected to Itachi too. Are you going to interrogate me as well? What if Itachi had been contacting me? What if I'm not mentally stable? Would you sift through my memories, _my_ personal sanctuary, just to confirm that I am not a traitor?" He threw word after word out of his mouth, hoping to knock some sense into Kakashi.

The jounin smiled sadly at him and patted his head, "We all know you had a good connection with her, Sasuke, but you have to think for the safety of the village first. A ninja's role is to protect his village."

The boy growled at him and stalked off, looking for the Hokage. He didn't care if he was disrespecting him; the Hokage needed to know that Akira was on their side.

"Send a team after her." Kakashi's voice reached his ears. Sasuke growled. Only when the leaf village had betrayed her, would she return the favour.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed that chapter! Updates will be coming a nit slower than normal. Exams and no motivation =/**


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